ABSTRACT
Since 1949, Western observers have taken a comparative stance in viewing the economic development of mainland China and Taiwan. Explicit or implicit in their analyses was the assumption that Chinese communism was fundamentally different from Chinese capitalism and that every stride or setback was directly attributable to the disembodied political ethos nominally espoused by each regime. The propaganda of the Chinese themselves, laden with references to "running dogs of the capitalist imperialists" and "communist bandits," reinforced this perspective. Western observers all too often visited only one or the other part of China, where they were led to believe that each was the ideal political system for the modern Chinese people and a secure repository for the best in China's past. Economic apologists for each camp, for example, have written on the miracle of the mainland (or Taiwanese) model of agricultural development and mused on whether or not it could be exported.
