Progress
is measured in many ways, such as in terms of economic, political, and societal
improvements. No doubt with the turn of the 21st century, both
countries have made progress. But since progress can be measured from any time
in the past, this essay will only talk about the progress of modern China and
America, post 1950s to the current times. Let’s start with the most obvious and
most clearly shown method of progress, economic progress. In the aspect, we can
clearly say that in recent times, China has managed to achieve a much better economic
progress that America has. In 1950 to 1970s, China’s economy slowed due to the
largely ineffective government. It was considered a low income country with its
GDP only at 111 USD per capita. However, since its opening up to foreign markets,
its GDP has soared at approximately 9% a year, since the 1980s, with the growth
in 2011 still continuing strongly at an unparalleled 9.3%. America, on the
other hand, does not have such astronomical figures in terms of progress, with
1.7% in 2011. It is still, however the largest economy in the world. This can
be clearly explained. China has the world’s largest population, standing at 1.3
billion people. They thus have huge manpower to support to development.
Secondly, they exemplify the economic theory of catch up—the idea that per
capita GDP of poorer countries will converge with the per capita GDP in richer
countries with time. Due to the fact that additional investments are more
productive in poor countries, China, at that time would attract more investment.
Along with their large labour force, largely market-based economy, stability
and openness to trade since the 1980s, it is unsurprising that many countries have
invested into China, resulting in extreme economic progress. Even companies in
the US are more willing to invest in China than in its homeland, and this has
led to a less satisfactory progress in terms of its economy. However, we cannot
look at economic progress in terms of GDP alone. China might have had GDP
improvement, but have they really created a culture where this rapid growth is sustainable?
China’s GDP growth is mainly based on their cheap labour and manufacturing
industries, and has stayed this way the past 40 years. Not to say that it does
not work, but it will become less and less efficient. When countries find China
too expensive to invest in and decide that other countries are more effective,
their high speed train of economic progress would grind to a stop, and lead to lots
of problems in their economic structure. They have made some progress in other
sectors, but industry still stands at 48% of China’s economy, much too large,
leaving China very vulnerable. In this sense, China has not made a lot of
progress in terms of its diversification of its economy. America, have made
more progress, offering higher value added services over China’s manufacturing
industries, and puts them at a better position for future stability due to a
higher technological development.
I will
measure societal progress in terms of the standard of living of the people
through wages, affordability of healthcare, affordability of education and
affordability of necessities. China in this has also made stunning progress.
From the slums and farms that dogged the plains to the sky scraping buildings
in Shanghai is a symbol of how far they have come. In the developed part of China,
students are all given opportunities to study, and they have very good grades
that allow that many opportunities. Their living standard is good, and
healthcare is affordable to most in the big metropolitan cities. One bleep
could be that house prices are going through the roof, and some youths in China
are struggling to afford them. However, the picture is less rosy when we move
west of China. In places such as Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, many
students struggle to go to school, have adequate housing, and struggle to earn
a living. Their lives are less extravagant compared to their urban counterparts,
but the reason is in no small part their own fault. They constantly reject
Chinese government urbanization attempts due to their willingness to hold on to
their culture, and their lack of nationalism towards China. America has a
general more all-round success in their people’s standard of living. The government
measures pushed through, such as the “no child left behind” policy and the
future obamacare policy, have shown American government’s recent will to ensure
that all people are able to be educated, and able to receive basic medical
insurance. This helps to show that America is making progress in terms of
helping the American’s standard of living.
A country’s
progress can largely be the result of good governance, so I will briefly talk
about the governance of these two countries and how it helps in their progress.
China’s Communist party is unrivalled by any other political party, and
although this might ensure stability and efficacy, it also gives the people
less say in the political matters. America can be directly counter that, the Republican
and Democratic parties always strongly contest; neither really gaining the
upper hand. However, this has led to lots of debate and criticism from the opposition
party whenever one makes any political suggestions. This also leads the
government to be more conservative, in an attempt to attract votes from the
people. Both help to ensure a stable country that makes continuous progress,
though neither can really seem to do anything truly revolutionary to make one’s
progress seem more significant than the other.
