
First published: SOAS China Institute 24/08/2021
Mao Zedong waged war, so to speak, against the capitalist class in China. Deng Xiaoping and later leaders marched to a different tune, allowing people and private firms under the ‘reform and opening up’ slogan to get rich. Xi Jinping looks to be turning the clock back. Under the slogan of ‘common prosperity’, he is looking to emphasise the ‘socialism’ in ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’. This is language that until now many saw as little more than rhetoric because China is, after all, the epitome of state capitalism, which everyone knows, right? Well, maybe not, after all. Read on…..https://blogs.soas.ac.uk/china-institute/2021/08/24/going-after-the-private-sector-xi-on-a-mission/