Brad kallard on X In 1949, China was starving, war-torn & broke. Its economy was smaller than Italy’s. The West laughed at the idea it could ever rise. Today: It's a $17 trillion superpower challenging America. Here’s the controversial blueprint behind the fastest economic rise in history: China had nothing in 1949 • GDP per capita: $50 • 90% of people were peasants • Life expectancy: 36 • Inflation: 1,000%+ • Entire economy < Italy’s They weren’t just broke. They were broken. So the CCP went full Soviet. They nationalized everything. Launched Five-Year Plans. Forced collectivized farming. For a moment, it worked. But in 1958, they overplayed their hand... The Great Leap Forward (1958–1962): A man-made disaster Mao tried to turn China into an industrial power overnight. The result? • Backyard furnaces melted pots & pans • Fake grain stats led to mass starvation • 30+ million dead in the worst famine in human history China collapsed inward. Then came Deng Xiaoping. The architect of China’s rise. After Mao’s death, Deng didn’t hold press conferences. He changed everything behind the scenes. His core belief: “It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.” Translation: Ideology doesn’t matter. Results do. 1978: The capitalist pivot Deng opened China’s economy. But didn’t call it capitalism. He called it: “Socialism with Chinese characteristics." And suddenly… the machine turned on. Shenzhen: China’s first ‘test tube’ He created a fishing village called Shenzhen into a Special Economic Zone (SEZ): • Tax breaks • Foreign investment • Loose regulations In 1980: pop. 30,000 In 2024: pop. 17 million GDP: $500B+ One city. The size of Sweden’s economy. 1980s–90s: China became the world’s factory • Dirt-cheap labor • Aggressive infrastructure building • Export-led growth Foreign companies flooded in. Factories boomed. The world bought everything “Made in China.” 2001: China enters the WTO (World Trade Organization) This was China’s cheat code. • Foreign investment exploded • Exports surged 5x in 10 years • Millions lifted out of poverty • GDP went vertical From 2001–2011, China added a France to its economy every year. 2010s: Rise of the tech giants China no longer wanted to assemble iPhones. It wanted to create its own. Enter: • Alibaba • Tencent • Huawei • BYD • DJI China moved up the value chain. From sweatshops → silicon. In 2015, China launched a bold plan: Become #1 in: • Robotics • Semiconductors • Aerospace • Green energy • AI It wasn’t just about growth anymore. It was about global dominance. Dual Circulation: Self-sufficiency mode In the 2020s, China faced pressure: COVID, U.S. sanctions, Taiwan tension. So Xi Jinping introduced “Dual Circulation”: • Keep exports strong • But build an internal engine: domestic consumption, homegrown tech China's hedging against global dependency. And the results? 🧨 $17.5 trillion GDP 🧨 World’s top manufacturer 🧨 40% of EVs sold globally = Chinese 🧨 90% of rare earth minerals? Controlled by China They didn’t catch up. They leapfrogged. But it came at a cost: • Heavy surveillance • Tight censorship • Debt-fueled growth • Massive real estate bubble • Demographic collapse (birth rate: 1.09) It’s not a utopia. But it’s a machine that was built for power. TL;DR: China’s blueprint was unique: ✅ Central planning ✅ Capitalist tools ✅ Ruthless execution ✅ Long-term strategy The West sold freedom. China sold stability. And in just 70 years, it rewrote the global order.