Fifty years of Socialism in China: From the Self-Assertion of a Communist Regime to the New "Middle Kingdom"

Abstract After some 30 years of socialism the Chinese leadership decided in 1978 to transform its economic basis in a very fundamental way - it gradually introduced market economic principles. These were supposed to help China to take a place in the world which it deserves, at least in the eyes of its leadership. Meanwhile, 50 years after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, the country has in fact developed into a power which enjoys a certain world-wide respect because of its political but also its (future?) economic significance. But the realization of the leadership's eventual political and economic goal is doubtless fraught with many problems. In economic terms, under the present world-wide conditions, China seeks to participate in the global economic growth and credit speculation by means of a stable national currency in the same way as other already successful nations - but to reach this goal it has first to achieve substantial national economic growth. And in political terms, it is not only confronted with various internal problems, but also with the interests of these successful nations which critically watch and judge the further development of China.