Globalization in China
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Globalization in China discusses the history of globalization in China; including the economic, social, cultural influences that have been integrated into Chinese society.


Early dynasties and the Silk Road

The first historical instance of China engaging in internationalism was during the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
.Killion, U. (2006) ''A Modern Chinese Journey to the West''. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. At the start of the Han dynasty, the
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
in the north were attacking the frontiers of Han and trying to obtain riches. Emperor Wu of Han wanted to gain an alliance with a country called Darouzhi so the two countries could join and fight against the Huns. To obtain this alliance, King Wu sent
Zhang Qian Zhang Qian (; died c. 114) was a Chinese official and diplomat who served as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the late 2nd century BC during the Han dynasty. He was one of the first official diplomats to bring back valuable inf ...
to the West to establish economic and cultural connections. History records that during the Han dynasty there were four primary avenues of contact between China and Europe. They included the northern land route, the central land route, the southern sea route, and the far southern sea route. The most famous of these routes is the central land route, or the classical Silk Road, comprising a network of roads stretching from northwest China to the ports of Syria and the Black Sea, which passed through the oasis of the Turkestans and Northern Persia. The Silk Road was significant for Chinese emperors because it provided dominance over Central Asia by developing resources and provided new markets for the export of China's most valuable resources. During the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
there was a new age of urbanization and increased maritime commerce. For instance, Changan, the capital of the dynasty, developed into one of the largest cities during that time. By 742 CE, the population had reached almost 2 million and census showed that 5,000 foreigners lived in the city: Turks, Iranians, Indians, and others from along the road. Trade continued to flourish during this period and brought an increased number of foreigners, foreign religions, and foreign ideas in China. The
Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
transformed the focus of the Silk Road from the reliance on domestic trade to a reliance on Pacific Orientation. Trade was now supported by a large merchant marine and defended by an imperial navy and long-distance routes to the Middle East, India and the coast of Africa were now more readily available.G. Veeck, C. Pannell, C. Smith and Y. Huang. China’s Geography: Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham MD, 2007 During this period, the government started to heavily regulate foreign trade due to military threats on the Northern border. In order to monitor the flow of commodities in international trade, the Bureau of Merchant Shipping was established to tax merchant ships passing through. In addition, international trade became less focused on cultural exchanges and instead was seen as a necessity for the growth of the Chinese economy.


Modern China


20th-century China

China's efforts to balance the economic and socio-political tasks of education in its modern nation-building can be traced back to the struggles of the late
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
, under threat of foreign aggression for modernization and national survival. This dilemma has persisted through the establishment of the Republic of China (1912–49) and the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and onto that of the successors and into modern day. Older societies have had to overhaul their institutions and world views radically in order to conform with the models of the modern
nation state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may i ...
system, with post-1949 China being the time that this reordering took place within China. After the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
, the Chinese government instituted a number of reforms that were meant to increase economic growth while at the same time stifling the proliferation of democratic sentiments in their country. To the CCP (or the CPC), Democracy leads to political instability which in turn impedes economic development and this is a sentiment believed by many people inside China. In 1989 China's population was the largest in the world but its GDP was only ninth in the world, yet twenty-five years later China's economy has become the second largest after only the U.S. This major increase in economic development was not without a cost because although economic reform and globalization had brought China unprecedented wealth it also brought China a monstrous increase in carbon dioxide emissions.


21st-century China

Since 2005, China has spent more than $56 billion in sub-Saharan Africa, with significant investment in oil, platinum, copper, nickel, and manganese as well as other extracting industries. China's bilateral trade with African countries rose from $10 billion in 2000 to $125 billion in 2010 and stands to reach $300 billion by 2015, surpassing the United States as Africa's largest trading partner. China's trade with Latin America has also increased dramatically, rising to 1,500% between 2000 and 2010 through loans and direct foreign investment. China is one of the primary winners of the Western sanctions against Iran, as it has allowed them to become its top trading partner, purchasing 400,000 barrels of oil per day all paid for with the yuan in an attempt to elevate the global standing of the yuan against the U.S. dollar. Chinese integration into the global financial system has taken its first steps by way of the launch of the "
Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect () is a cross-boundary investment channel that connects the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Under the program, investors in each market are able to trade shares on the other market using ...
" and "
Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect (SEHKSZSE) () is a cross-boundary investment channel that connects the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Under the program, investors in each market are able to trade shares on the other ma ...
". The implications that an increase in Chinese integration into the global financial system are many, with positives and negatives for both the Chinese and the
Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
. In
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
there have been a number of political battles due to a feeling that with the increase of globalization came an increase of "Chinaization". Expanding global commerce and the corporate control of the political process weakens the autonomy and power of local communities, which is what ''
Jihad vs. McWorld ''Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World'' is a 1995 book by American political scientist Benjamin Barber, in which he puts forth a theory that describes the struggle between "McWorld" (globalization and the corpor ...
'' argues. The more integrated communities become with mainland China, the more prosperity they receive, but most of the advantages go to the various business tycoons and corporate elites, which can be seen as an example of the rise in income inequality in China.


Economic shifts

Since 1980, China has undergone a series of reform policies aimed at transforming its economic system from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy by combining the planning economic systems from socialism with a market mechanism from capitalism. Along with this shift came the creation of four Special Economic Zones, areas of the country that are affected by favorable business laws aimed at increasing trade, investment, and job creation. This was spearheaded by
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...
who set out to create a more economically open China, with the results of this new liberalization and globalization of the economy being substantial. During the period of 1978 to 2012, China's GDP grew about 9.8% annually and its GDP volume increased 22.5 times during this period, while its GDP per capita grew at an annual rate of 8.5% and increased 15 times in the same period. By 2010, China surpassed Japan to become the world's second-largest economy and at the same time it also surpassed
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in terms of export volume, becoming the largest in the world. The massive increase of GDP in China has led to an increase of living standards for the Chinese since their incomes have doubled or even quadrupled every 10 years. Amid this economic outburst, the income distribution in China has increased dramatically, changing China from a relatively equal socialist country to a very unequal country. The
economic globalization Economic globalization is one of the three main dimensions of globalization commonly found in academic literature, with the two others being political globalization and cultural globalization, as well as the general term of globalization. Econom ...
of China has transformed the nature of its national policy preferences, calling into question for the rest of the world what their true intentions might very well be. The efforts to increase the liberalization of the Chinese economy, spearheaded by the U.S., were met with mixed feelings due to China's rapid economic progress. The bittersweet nature of China's rise in economic power leads to questions about whether or not it will support the existing international order of things or challenge it. The undervalued
Chinese yuan The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...
with respect to the
United States dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
has brought about questions to whether or not a move to a more flexible exchange rate would be beneficial to the Chinese economy, with most experts arguing that no dramatic change in exchange rate is needed and that the most needed policy attention is the domestic financial sector, not the international.


Cultural shifts

The Chinese desire for globalization is countered by the fear of losing their own culture, identity, and history, meaning that the suspicions towards the English language seeping into Chinese (and worldwide) cultures might be justified, if even to a small degree. English has been seen as a new form of opium to some which indicates a growing hostility towards English in China but at the same time raises questions due to English being the predominant language for international trade and communication. China faces an unprecedented multitude of problems with regard to language choice and linguistic identity, some of which are due to challenges imposed by global English from the outside world. Although English was denounced as a language for the Bourgeoisie and imperialist during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
, it is viewed as a necessary tool in China's modernization and integration with the world. In the 1990s municipal planners in a major
Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
of China, Dalian, sought to make the city a regional hub for trade, finance, and tourism, attempting to make the city a "Hong Kong of the North".


See also

*
Globalization and women in China The study of the impact of globalization on women in China examines the role and status of Chinese women relative to the political and cultural changes that have taken place in the 20th century as a consequence of globalization. Globalization r ...
*
Chinese economic reform The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and " socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of ...
* Economy of China


References

{{Asia topic, Globalization in History of globalization Social history of China China