Benjamin Mao

Pd.2
4/26/14
AP World Interview
My parents came to the United States from China in the late 1980s. My mom, Ruth Mao,
is 52 years old and a graduate of Peking University, the top ranked university in Mainland China
and 37th in the world. My dad is 53 years old and a graduate of Nankai University, the second
best university on the Mainland and 53
rd
in the world. Both my parents hold PhDs in chemistry
and physics respectively. The reason that my parents came to America was to seek new
economic opportunities in the one of the most prosperous nations on Earth, made possible by
certain reforms in China. After the death of Chairman Mao Zedong in September of 1976, a
power struggle ensued for control of China. On one side was the Gang of Four, a faction of the
Chinese Communist Party consisting of four members who wanted to continue Maos radical
policy of mass mobilization of the peasantry. On the other side was the right wing opposing
these policies. The right wing restorationists led by Chairman Hua Guofeng, who was Maos
handpicked successor, wanted a return to central planning following the Soviet Model, while the
right wing reformers, led by Deng Xiaoping, wanted to completely overhaul the Chinese
economy based on market-oriented policies and de-emphasize the role of Maoist ideology in
determining economic and political policy. The Gang of Four was arrested a month after Maos
death, tried for anti-party activities in 1981 and sentenced to death, which was later reduced to
life in prison. Hua Guofeng was ousted in 1978, paving the way for Deng to become paramount
leader and initiate radical reforms. Through the Reform and Opening up policy started in 1978,
the Communist Party relaxed state control of the economy, permitted individuals to accumulate
wealth and opened up to foreign investment. Although officially known as Socialism with
Chinese Characteristics, the reforms essentially created a capitalist economy. My parents took
advantage of the newly found economic freedom and immigrated to the United States in 1988,
Benjamin Mao
Pd.2
4/26/14
taking their newly found wealth and hoping to make more in the U.S. My parents coming to
America was as a result of the creation of a new economic system in China, one of the AP World
themes. The planned economy of the Mao era was replaced by a free market economy under
Deng. Socialism was replaced by capitalism and the standard of living skyrocketed. GPD
ballooned from $67.9 billion in 1952, at the start of Maos agricultural reforms, to $8.23 trillion,
the second highest in the world after the U.S, in 2013, at the end of the Hu-Wen administration.
GDP per capita is now 188% of Indias and 16% of Americas in the 30 years since the start of
reforms. Due to the reforms, Chinas economy is now one of the worlds largest and one of the
most important.