China's Cellular Economy: Some Economic Trends Since the Cultural Revolution

Abstract

The Cultural Revolution severely shook the organizational structure of China. In its aftermath came a general weakening of the administration and a loosening of control. As a result the country has experienced an intensification of the tendencies towards a cellular economy. The forces, already strong, which encouraged individual localities and enterprises to develop on self-sufficient autonomous lines, have received a new accession of strength. At present the country seems composed of a myriad of small discrete units, although there are at work technical forces which, it would seem, ought to be breaking down this cellular arrangement. This article looks at the emphasis on self-reliance and self-sufficiency, enquires into certain consequences of these trends and hexamines and speculates on the manner in which the separate units of the Chinese economy relate to each other economically.