China, 1978-2013: from one Plenum to another. Reflections on hopes and constraints for reform in the Xi Jingping era

Why is it so difficult to talk about China in a nuanced and contrasting manner without falling back on superlatives and generalisations? In about thirty years, China’s GDP per capita has multiplied by eight. From a marginal economic power during the Maoist period (1949-1978), China is now ranked tenth in terms of global economic weight. “Wealth and power” (fu qiang) is the expression that embodies China’s quest for modernity since the second half of the 19th century, when China was still under the yoke of the West. This ambition is still at the heart of the “Chinese dream of rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” dear to Xi Jinping, which he set out during the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. But focusing only on this vision of “wealth and power” takes us back to one of the most common ways of representing China: reducing the ongoing socio-economic changes and dynamics to a set of numeric values, ultimately reified and homogenised. The increased power and internationalisation of the Chinese economy has prompted a combination of worry and enthusiasm. What does this imply about the paradigm shift in the way we portray this country? Perhaps it is still hard to leave behind the image of a subordinate, poor and voiceless China and consider the Chinese people as, at least, our equals.