ABSTRACT
An examination of the negative impact of Maoism on China's economic development must begin with the Chinese Communist Party's selection of Marxism-Leninism as its guiding ideology. In 1994, the Financial Times of London observed that 'Deng Xioping's role in liberalizing the Chinese economy made him the world's most significant political leader of the second half of the 20th century'. In the seventeen years since the economic reforms began, the People's Republic has clearly demonstrated an impressive economic growth capacity. A bloated political bureaucracy requires salary support from state revenue that could be better used as investment capital for infrastructural development. The more relaxed policy towards intellectuals, including allowing students and scholars to study in the industrialized democracies, has definitely enhanced China's innovative capacity. Without order and stability, it would be difficult to attain the other preconditions of economic development. More than thirty years ago, Geoffrey Hudson observed that inherent in the communist system of China are both strength and weakness.
