Question

Describe AT LEAST TWO of China’s “Four Modernizations.” Explain what the “Fifth Modernization” was and why, in your opinion, didn’t China achieve it?

Answer 1

Two of China's "Four Modernizations" :

Developing science and technology: Xiaoping removed China's policy of isolation from the world. He wanted ideas about technology and trade to flow into China once more, and had opened the door to foreign trade and investment. To encourage foreign trade, Xiaoping created Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in southeastern China this further increased trade and ideas for technology.

Upgrading China's defense forces: When Xiaoping came to power, he and his military advisers realized China's lack of up-to-date military weapons. Xiaoping quickly began to prioritize the acquirement of modern weaponry. However, he prioritized research over production, and gave both old and new weapons a place in the army. Xiaoping also emphasized on modern training for his soldiers, making them learn the newest of tactics and strategies to improve battle techniques. Increased nationalism in China also increased the number of soldiers who joined to serve and defend their country.

Wei posted his pronouncement "The Fifth Modernization" on the "Majority rules system Wall" at a bustling city in Beijing, he wasn't simply communicating perilous analysis of the Chinese Communist Party. He was displaying his lack of regard for centuries of tyranny, in the full information that retaliations would almost certainly be quick and wrecking.

The facts confirm that he took his activity during a snapshot of relative advancement. Deng Xiaoping had as of late solidified force subsequent to toppling Mao's successors, the Gang of Four. He was hectically slackening the focal government's power over the nation, in quest for his "Four Modernizations" of the country's farming, industry, national protection and science divisions. There was a sense, particularly among China's first class, that another period had started.

Be that as it may, Wei, who in spite of filling in as a circuit tester was likewise the child of two high-set gathering individuals and had been taught at Beijing's best schools, was no sham. "The Fifth Modernization" required the foundation of full vote based system in China, and it made pointed reactions of both Chairman Mao and Deng Xiaoping. It was a frontal attack on a framework that truly didn't endure even the most unobtrusive of investigates readily. Wei needed to realize that by marking his name to the proclamation, he was gambling execution.

"Individuals ought to have vote based system," composed Wei. "At the point when they request majority rules system, they are just requesting what is legitimately theirs. Anybody declining to offer it to them is an improper criminal no better than an entrepreneur who denies laborers of their cash earned with their perspiration and blood.

Wei Jingsheng was remunerated for his upheaval with a 15-year jail sentence. (He most likely got a sentence this "tolerant" simply because of the global consideration his case got, and the way that Deng Xiaoping had as of late met with remote pioneers.)

Sooner or later, the dam will break. "The Fifth Modernization" contains a certain confidence that the Chinese individuals will in the end request the full majority rule government that will prompt genuine individual opportunity. That day is continually delayed .

"Let me approach our confidants: Rally under the standard of majority rules system and don't confide in the czars' discussion about 'dependability and solidarity.' Fascist tyranny can just bring us catastrophe. I have no more fantasy. Majority rule government is our solitary expectation. Surrender our law based rights and we will be shackled by and by. Let us have confidence in our own qualities and manufacture the nation's future.

In my opinion, China could not achieve the “ Fifth Modernization” because:
1)   The Chinese culture grows around Confucianism, which believes that a constant relationship of sovereign and subject should be respected.
2)   The fifth modernization theory was so well erased that even 11 years later in Tiananmen Square the protestors had to find out themselves what criticizing authority leads to. No one knew during Tiananmen Square of Wei Jingsheng and his defiance of authority to call out for a democratic China.
3)   It is not industrial growth that determines a state’s prosperity, but rather its political and economic institutions in promoting freedoms and civil rights.
4)   “China cannot rise peacefully, and if it continues its dramatic economic growth over the next few decades, the United States and China are likely to engage in an intense security competition with considerable potential for war”.
5)   If China remains the way it is, a communist like regime with extractive political institutions, its prosperity would be short lived. It is only if China modernizes its political structure and opens up to democracy can they really achieve prosperity.