> The fact is whenever quick upward mobility has been possible anywhere for a large number of people, it has been built upon slavery, colonialism and/or cheap imported labour.
Which of these was responsible for China's rise from poverty?
Which of these was responsible for China's rise from poverty?
It's certainly true that there are other important factors and I don't think the parent poster's list is exhaustive, but these are crucial factors in China's current rise.
Slavery: we know there are factories inside their "reeducation camps"
Colonialism: Internally, Han Chinese are encouraged to migrate & take over areas of the country where other ethnics groups have traditionally been the majority. Abroad, China is involved in the modern form of colonialism by having direct influence in other countries via economic control.
Cheap imported labour: Definitely cheap labour and I'd say it's a large enough country to consider internal migration as regionally imported labour, with millions migrating from the countryside to factory cities.
It’s known that the use of slavery or slave labor stunts growth rather than enhances it because rather than innovating you use “subsidized”manual labor while others are innovating and progressing and using less expensive labor (mechanization, automation).
And China setup those "camps" and had a local GDP stagnation. Before the camps there was double digit growth every year and then terror attack came and everything went downhill.
China’s policies are probably the largest force for human happiness in the last two decades simply because of the sheer scale of people uplifted from poverty through industrialization.
The fact that they’re a totalitarian dictatorship means that they stand opposed to us but they are not incompetent.
China’s regime is ridiculously popular for a reason: It’s the economy, stupid.
- Chinese sweatshops
- Chinese "investments" in africa
- Chinese anexation of surrounding territories
In addition, these people made a calculus where staying in their ancestral homes meant certain poverty and moving to the city meant immediate increase in income as well as better prospects for the future. The drawback is/was poor working conditions, but I’m not sure they are worse than those back in their an ancestral homelands.