Historically, Chinese economy was powerful, thanks to the entrepreneurship of the local Chinese population. Even as China developed the metallic plow and initiated globalization by the 9th century AD by introducing the iron plow to the rest of the world, the Chinese invention led to Agricultural revolution in Europe. The silk route that opened the trade relations of the Chinese Dynasties with Rome and other Asian countries gradually led to the presence of more global merchants in China. China’s trade with the outside world flourished and the dynasty appeared to dominate the world trade and economy. However, the intervention of the dynasties weakened their international trade as their trade policies could not match with the commercial structures of Europe. For instance, in 1424 Emperor Zhu Gaochi banned maritime expeditions of Chinese ships fearing traders who undertake the expedition would be influenced by their outside counterparts for demanding more rights from the emperor (Tvede, 2015). Thus, Global pressure prompted the Chinese dynasties to close the door on the outside world and to turn in that ultimately led to the fall of the dynastic period.
Chinese reformers since the early nineteenth century had been looking for a leadership that mastered both wealth and power, two characters taken granted by their early rulers (Schell & Delury, 2013). More importantly, these patriotic Chinese thinkers wished their country to be able to fight any possible foreign incursions in light of weak dynastic rulers struggling to maintain territorial integrity. Thus, restoring China’s wealth and power came as a self-defense mechanism for the modern thinkers. As China went through a tough time losing to the imperial powers during the Opium Wars during the first half of the nineteenth century, the key to find China’s prosperity and power became rather urgent. Thus, the seeds to the path of revolution were sown by thinkers of the nineteenth century that gradually sprouted rather than conjured up by individuals like Deng Xiaoping.
References
Schell, O., & Delury, J. (2013). Wealth and power: China’s long march to the twenty-first century. New York: Random House
Tvede,L. (2015). The creative society: How the future can be won. London: Lid Publishing
