
	Prospects Consumer Economy Greening the Boom Winners and Losers The Politics of Growth Making Room for China An iconic billboard in the quintessential boom city of Shenzhen features Deng’s famous statement that China's “basic line will not waver for 100 years.” If Deng was right, we are less than one-third of the way into the era of “reform and opening.” But four challenges identified by Premier Wen Jiabao in 2010, that growth becomes “unbalanced, unstable, uncoordinated, or unsustainable,” threaten the boom. The key to balance lies in increasing the consumer share of GDP, allowing China to create a modern consumer economy. Stability will depend on the government's ability to address grievances as the gap between winners and losers widens. Coordination is the great test facing the ruling Communist Party, of whether it can manage the politics of growth without fundamental changes to the system. Sustainability is an issue that has global implications, as citizens of a warming planet watch anxiously to see if China is successful in greening the boom. The fifth great challenge, left out by Premier Wen, may be the external one: whether the world is successful in making room for China.

Winners And Losers

Period: Prospects

The Endgame Is Clear
Stephen Roach
Visit to an American Supermarket
Wu Jianmin
The Chinese-Indian Economic Model
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri
China's Youth Fuels the Consumer Boom
Shaun Rein
Confucianism Was Adopted to Legitimize Government
Daniel Bell
Environmental Degradation Began with Mao
Elizabeth Economy
A Government Monopoly on Finance Loosens
Mao Yushi
Women Hold Up Half of The Sky
Song Bing
Almost Everything We've Done Is Illegal
Yao Yang
Individual, Atomic Sands
Yoichi Funabashi
Economic and Political Reform
Susan Shirk
Boom Cannot Go On Without Political Loosening
Winston Lord
China is Walking A Tightrope
Lei Bo
Only Africa Can Save China
Emmanuel Ojukwu
The Paradox of Chinese Nationalism
Kaiser Kuo
Environmental Responsibility in Guanghan
Jiang Jianjun
Economic Development and Personal Development
Yu Jinghui
China's Intellectuals Aim for Social Justice
Victor Yuan
A Convertible RMB is Not Going to Happen
Carl E. Walter
Chinese People Do Not Want Another Period of Chaos
Edward Tse
Winners And Losers
Ai Weiwei
China Still Has Many Places to Develop
Emmanuel Ojukwu
China is a Maturing Dancer
Chen Ailian
Reform Transformed the Countryside
Xu Xiaonian
US and China Are in the Same Boat
Yao Yang
China is Like a Raft in Category 5 White Water
James Fallows

Ai Weiwei

Artist

Ai Weiwei, born in 1957, is the designer of Beijing National Stadium (colloquially known as the Bird's Nest) and an outspoken advocate of political reform in China. Ai regularly speaks out against the one-party state and the lack of political reform in China. During the Cultural Revolution, his family was sent to Xinjiang. Ai returned to Beijing in 1976, and founded the avant garde art group "Stars" in 1978, which disbanded in 1983. Ai spent time in New York City, from 1981-1993, at the Parsons School of Design. In 1993, Ai returned to Beijing to be with his ailing father. He helped to establish Beijing's "East Village" and put together a series of books on China's underground art movements: the Black Cover Book, White Cover Book, and Grey Cover Book. Ai is currently working on a project to find the names all the people who lost their lives in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

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I feel that the main characteristics about the past 30 years are first, China wants to survive. How can China withstand? This is the main narrative. And this struggle for survival includes both the political party and the nation's chance of persistence.

Basically, this is the initial motive. And then after, because of Reform and Opening, a large number of interest groups formed, how to transfer wealth in a state-owned, public-owned country into the hands of some individuals. This process is like the vigor of a cancer, it grows very fast on its own, so I feel, basically, this is the situation.  China's future is very bleak, but I don’t know about the world. Because China... it's a society completely without ideals. In the past 30 years, no legitimate status or legitimate social structure has been established. It’s not a society run by rule of law, and there is no real, so called, equality or social justice. The most basic kind of moral constraints are not there.

So it's still a very dangerous society. Those who have benefited are from inside the CCP. I think their behavior is predatory, rapidly transferring public resources into the hands of some individuals or interest groups. And what is sacrificed is the environment, the interests of the farmers and the common people, education... Also, national resources, energy, loss in massive scale. And as such, social conflicts will, already has, become bigger and bigger.

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Prospects

Winners And Losers

Period: Prospects

The Endgame Is Clear

Visit to an American Supermarket

The Chinese-Indian Economic Model

China's Youth Fuels the Consumer Boom

Confucianism Was Adopted to Legitimize Government

Environmental Degradation Began with Mao

A Government Monopoly on Finance Loosens

Women Hold Up Half of The Sky

Almost Everything We've Done Is Illegal

Individual, Atomic Sands

Economic and Political Reform

Boom Cannot Go On Without Political Loosening

China is Walking A Tightrope

Only Africa Can Save China

The Paradox of Chinese Nationalism

Environmental Responsibility in Guanghan

Economic Development and Personal Development

China's Intellectuals Aim for Social Justice

A Convertible RMB is Not Going to Happen

Chinese People Do Not Want Another Period of Chaos

Winners And Losers

China Still Has Many Places to Develop

China is a Maturing Dancer

Reform Transformed the Countryside

US and China Are in the Same Boat

China is Like a Raft in Category 5 White Water

Ai Weiwei

Artist

Add New Comment

Map the interviews