China’s Development Experience from the Perspective of the Local Economy

Deng Xiaoping’s reforms gave farmers the opportunity to create 180 million small farms working at a lease contract, which then became the basis for forming a strong voluntary cooperative sector. These small production entities ensured two, three times growth of agricultural production. The next stage of reforms was formation of the sector of small and medium-sized industrial enterprises located mainly in rural areas and created on a collective (cooperative) basis. Namely they, rather than large-scale enterprises, have converted China into the world’s factory. And they ensured that arrival in China of large Western corporations and creation of special economic zones did not cause the collapse of the Chinese industry (as it was in Russia) and stimulated further growth of the Chinese economy. This experience of China is fully applicable to Russia.