On the Meaning of the PRC’s Development Since 1949

The purpose of this article is to search for answers to the following four questions: First, what is the social meaning of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) development prior to 1978? Second, how to interpret the Chinese social drive since 1978? Third, what is the balance sheet of the PRC’s development since 1949? Finally, on the basis of the exploration of China’s growth during the two periods, is it possible to extrapolate into a social structure of the country in the foreseeable future? In pursuing its objectives, the article does not judge China’s road as it should be from a theoretical point of view but simply examines it as it is or might be in practice. China’s development from 1949 to present has taken several socioeconomic forms: 1949-1958, from a prevalent nonstate feudalism to a dominant state feudalism; 1960-1966, elements of mixed capitalism within state feudalism; 1966-1976, the split within the state capitalist and feudal bureaucracies; since 1978, authoritarian state capitalism. Thus, the Chinese road turned out to be not that of “ socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics†but of state capitalist market economy with, of course, Chinese characteristics. It is argued that remarkable economic achievements of the PRC have not been due to “socialism†but due to various forms of capitalism and feudalism, which the circumstances have forced upon the country’s development.