Papers > By author > Aydın Zülküf

This paper analyses the nature of rural transformation in China in the aftermath of Mao's death. It tries to do this by locating Chinese rural transformation within the context of China's attempt to open up to the rest of the world and become a world power. The paper contends that China's recent economic and political rise cannot be properly understood unless the nature of rural transformation is understood properly. As the dismantling of the peoples' communes has unleashed a huge number of labour force to be available for the use of industrial sector in the export processing zones established in the coastal areas, it is vital to consider rural and industrial transformation together. An attempt will be made not only to describe the nature of people's communes, their strengths and weaknesses but also the conditions that necessitated their dismantling. Deng reforms since 1978 that ensured China's global integration will be analysed to argue that a happy marriage has been produced between some elements of capitalism and socialism. While international capital has been allowed to invest and operate within Chinese economy, the state still continues to have a very strong grip on labouring classes to ensure the availability of cheap labour for companies. This is what the new Chinese leadership calls Chinese Style Socialism which brings together elements of the theories of Adam Smith and Karl Marx.