Weekend Long Read: The China You Know Hasn’t Been Around That Long

Many aspects of contemporary Chinese life, such as economic growth, public safety, social benefits for farmers, and two-day weekends, are relatively recent developments that are not far removed from where we are today [para. 1]. Let's consider China's GDP: the growth initially decelerated after 1996 and witnessed a dramatic surge only from 2000, marking a new era of economic prosperity for the country [para. 2].

In terms of public safety, China has made immense progress [para. 4]. Incidents such as those involving the “Hand-Chopping Gang” in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region demonstrated the safety challenges of past decades. The gang, notorious for severing victims' arms during robberies, operated mainly in cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen during the early 2000s [para. 6]. Similarly, the “Flying Car Gang” terrorized the Pearl River Delta using motorcycles to commit thefts in the late 1990s and early 2000s, leading to the exacerbation of public fear [para. 8]. However, economic development and improved security measures have gradually made China a safer place to live, with the outright ban on motorcycles in Guangzhou in 2007 serving as a pivotal point [para. 12].

The abolition of agricultural taxes was another significant milestone. The “Three Extractions and Five Consolidations,” which consisted of various financial levies on farmers, posed tremendous financial burdens, covered until their abolition in 2002, only to be completely repealed by the Agricultural Tax Ordinance on January 1, 2006 [para. 15][para. 16][para. 17][para. 19].

Family planning policies also saw drastic changes. Forced abortions were common in the 1980s under local regulations demanding termination of pregnancies exceeding the family planning regime [para. 23]. By the 1990s, these regulations were amended, and by 2016, China ended its one-child policy, allowing married couples to have two children, subsequently extended to three in 2021 [para. 26].

On the social welfare front, the establishment of a system ensuring basic protection against hunger began by the end of September 1999, and the policy was extended to rural areas by 2006 [para. 28]. Health insurance and social welfare began almost simultaneously, initially covering only urban employees in 1998 and expanding to include unemployed urban residents by 2010 [para. 30]. Nine-year compulsory education, which began in 1986, has only been free of all fees since 2006, making education truly accessible to all Chinese children [para. 33].

The introduction of two-day weekends started in 1994, with a further reduction in work hours in 1995, giving Chinese workers two days off every weekend, marking a significant enhancement in labor rights [para. 47][para. 49]. Travel freedoms also expanded significantly, especially post-1995 with the implementation of the national ID system, allowing people to travel without extensive bureaucratic barriers [para. 51].

China's material abundance has also seen profound changes. The grain and oil rationing system ended only in 1993, and the arrival of cars like the Buick Sail in 2001 set off a nationwide wave of increasing material wealth [para. 58]. Cultural life too, saw a boost with the import of high-quality films starting in the mid-1990s, like "The Fugitive," which was the first to be imported under a revenue-sharing model in 1994 [para. 61]. The switch from the Material Product System to the GDP system in 1993 allowed the inclusion of non-material services, marking a paradigm shift in China's economic metrics [para. 67].

All these transformations owe their success to the economic reforms and globalization efforts, reminding us of the importance of continued engagement with the world [para. 71]. Understanding this recent transformation helps us appreciate the incremental developments that contribute to contemporary life in China [para. 73].