ABSTRACT
The second half of the twentieth century was the first time in China’s millenary history in which the country succeeded in attaining a fast rate of economic growth. The massive acceleration in China’s rate of growth was a dramatic slap in the face to the numerous analysts who had long asserted that China was culturally predisposed to remain forever in stagnation. During the first half of the twentieth century China was a country fundamentally driven by market forces, and economic growth averaged only about 0.5 percent annually. The late twentieth century was a period in which market forces were massively distorted, yet China attained one of the fastest rates of economic growth in the world. Importing resources from capitalist countries was practically impossible as a result of China’s participation in the Korean War and the Allied embargo that followed. The fast growth of China during the 1950s astonished many analysts with orthodox visions of the world.
