阻碍社会主义市场持续增长的威胁

1978年改革开放后，中国经济急剧增长，1978年中国国内生产总值（GDP）为3645亿元人民币。它在2009增长到34兆510亿元。平均年增长率从1978增长到9.7%。是什么让不同让中国大幅增长？改革开放前后最为不同的是1978年改革开放，改革开放中最重要的是社会主义市场。中国的经济增长是中国式的社会主义，按照邓小平的说法，“社会主义和资本主义之间的本质差异并非取决于计划向市场的比例。规划不等于社会主义，因为资本主义有计划。市场不等于资本主义，社会主义有市场。规划和市场都是发展经济的工具，，“也就是说，社会主义市场。

Introduction 简介
After the reform and opening-up in 1978, Chinese economy has increased sharply, The Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) in 1978 was RMB 364.5 billion. It grew to RMB 34051 billion in 2009. The average annual growth rate grew 9.7 percent from 1978 to 2005. What made the different and let China growth sharply? The most difference before and after 1978 is the reform and opening-up; and the most important thing in the reform and opening-up is the socialist market. China's growth is the Chinese style socialism, according to Deng Xiaoping, "The essential disparity between socialism and capitalism does not rest on the ratio of plan to market. Planning does not equal socialism, for capitalism has plans. Market does not equal capitalism, for socialism has markets. Both planning and markets are tools to develop the economy." That is, the socialist market.

Theoretical Background - the socialist market economy 理论背景-社会主义市场经济
In this section, I would like to talk about what socialist market economy is. It is a fundamental concept of this paper. In order to answer this question, we should know what the meaning of market is and what the meaning of socialist is, are there any contradictions between market and socialism?

The word "socialist" or "socialism" is always seen as command system. For command system, most property resources are government owned and economic decision making occurs through a central economic plan. Almost all the major decisions about the use of resources, the composition and distribution of output, and the organization of production are made by the government. Most of business firms are owned by the government and the production is commanded by the government directives. Production goals and the amount of resources to be allocated to each enterprise are determined by the government, so that it can reach its production goals. The government's long-term priorities determine the division of output between capital and consumer goods.

A pure command economy would rely exclusively on a central plan to allocate the government-owned property resources. But, in reality, even the preeminent command economy, Soviet Union tolerated some private ownership and incorporated some markets before its collapse in 1992. (Bure & Mcconnll 2007).

The word market is always represented by market system or capitalism. Market or capitalism is characterized by the private ownership of resources and the use of markets and price to coordinate and direct economic activity. People work in their own self-interest. Everyone seek to achieve their economic goals through their own decisions regarding work, consumption or production. The system allows for the private ownership of capital, communicates through prices, and coordinates economic activity through markets where buyers and sellers come together. Goods and services are produced and resources are supplied by whoever is willing and able to do so. The result is competition among independently acting buyers and sellers of each product and resource. Thus, economic decision making is widely dispersed. Also the higher potential monetary rewards create higher incentives for existing firms to innovate and entrepreneurs to pioneer new products and processes. (Bure & Mcconnll 2007)

It seems that the word "market" and "socialist" are basically contradicted because of the forms of ownership. "Market" stresses that the form ownership should be private while "Socialist" emphasizes that the form ownership should be public. That makes the main different between "market" and "socialist". In addition, the guidance of economic activities in market system is the price, but in command system, the guidance of economic activities is a central economic plan. How to combine "market" and "socialist"?

According to Deng Xiaoping, socialism has two principles: one is that the economies with various types of properties develop together, of which publicly owned property is a main part. The other is that all people become rich; polarization does not exist.

As he said, "The essential disparity between socialism and capitalism does not rest on the ratio of plan to market. Planning does not equal socialism, for capitalism has plans. Market does not equal capitalism, for socialism has markets. Both planning and markets are tools to develop the economy." That is to say, the combination of "market" and "socialist" is the socialist market.

The word "socialist market" is fundamentally meaning that surmounts the limitations of capitalism, and combines the superiority of the economic system of socialism with the advantages of the market economy (Xiaoqin DING 2009). According to the article 6 of the constitution of the People's Republic of China, "The basis of the socialist economic system of the People's Republic of China is socialist public ownership of the means of production, namely, ownership by the whole people and collective ownership by the working people. The system of socialist public ownership supersedes the system of exploitation of man by man; it applies the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his work." In the primary stage of socialism, the state upholds the basic economic system with the public ownership remaining dominant and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side, and upholds the distribution system in which the distribution according to work remains dominant and a variety of modes of distribution coexist." That is to say, the state, party and people insist the relations of socialist production, adjust mechanisms like the market to the situation and guarantee against a capitalist restoration. Socialist market economy is to ensure the society equity, while the market assures economic efficiency. And the most important thing is, the characteristic of planning is not missing, it just changes to a macroeconomic regulation, which is stronger than that in any capitalist country.

The Chinese growth is different from others countries
Why China can growth by applying socialist market economy, but other country cannot? In this section, I would like to talk about the differences between China and other countries.

The growth of China is unique and is different from any other country's development. Compare with the preeminent command economy, Soviet Union, the main differences between China and Soviet Union are the aspects of "dealing with class struggle in a socialist society and how to build a new society," "commodity markets and capitalism," "whether to adhere to the people first or to State supremacy, and whether to adhere to scientific development or to 'voluntarist' development." Chinese style socialism is completely different with the Soviet style of socialism; it is a close integration of Marxism with China's own situation and a definitely Chinese style socialist path and system of theories. So we called that "Chinese style socialism" or "socialism with Chinese characteristics". (The China Model 2010)

In fact, China has made a rapid progress is due to the country insists on independence and sovereignty, and also it insists on following the socialist path. With such a foundation, China absorbs capital, technology, and experience from the developed countries. China has refused to destroy its own system through replacing it by another transplanted system of that country. The market doesn't construct a separate economic system in a mixed Chinese social formation. There is only one mechanism, which is combined with other more direct forms of public regulation and control, planned to reach socialist goals by a ruling class of workers and farmers, affect all people, dealing with the common ownership of the means of production. (XiaoQin Ding, 2009)

Even the economic system is the same; it may use different economic mechanisms. Marx's future society, the "community of free individuals," is depended on common ownership and planned production to fulfill social needs. The Soviet Union had common ownership of the means of production but used different forms of management, including cooperative ones, as well as some limited market mechanisms. It is another situation in China, where the market plays a more important role now and a fundamental one in resources allocation after the reform and global opening-up. Nevertheless, the characteristic of planning is not missing. It is the pillar of macroeconomic regulation, which is stronger than that in any capitalist nation. With the advance of opening up, we havemoved from dominant planned regulation and a "planned commodity economy" to a "socialist market economy."

No one mix of the market and no planning is corrected all the times and in all situations; it needs concrete economic and global conditions. Economic and technological conditions may not exist to permit the implementation of a totally planned economy, put an end to the production and circulation of commodities. However, the market economy has its deficiency internally and there is a misunderstanding to idealize or absolutize it.

Improvements by the socialist market economy 社会主义市场经济的完善
The development of our socialist market economy in the past thirty years has brought a dramatically change in our economic life. Let us have a detailed research in it. Those changes are outlined chiefly as follows:

1. The relations of production have been established with the state-owned economy remaining dominant and diverse ownerships developing side by side. Multi-ownership structure is in line with the development of the productive forces at the primary stage of socialism, which is a hopeful sign.

2. The market system has been basically formed. Also, the market infrastructure has been improved. The monopoly sector and regional obstacles are gradually being broken. Positive effects are fulfilled by correcting the market economic order.

3. A new macro-control and regulatory system of the national economy has been set up, with measures ranging from the state mandatory plan and credit scale control to the comprehensive development plan or fiscal and monetary policies. Indirect regulation begins to act as a main role. The emphasis of macro regulation shifts from intervention in the micro-economy to regulation of the total quantity of supply and demand, and from the expansion of speed and quantity to the improvement of quality, performance, and structure. More attention is paid to the coordinated development of the economy and society.

4. Reform of the field of distribution is being gradually strengthened. And this pattern will continue. Distribution depends on labor remains dominant, and diverse distribution modes coexist.

5. A social security system has been established. This is mainly consisting of insurance for the elderly, age, unemployment and health insurance. And this social security system is structured and to be independent of enterprises.

6. Institutional reform and transformation of government functions have been carried on.

Threats that hinder the socialist market sustained growth
Although China keep on developing with a high speed, we still will face several problems.

To begin, we will face severe problems with natural resources and the environment. Because of the rapid development, China will enter into a period that high

consumption of resources and increasingly pollutionwill place more pressure on resources and the environment. In 2000, China's GDP was quadruple that of 1978. Also, efforts are paid underway to quadruple the GDP of 2000 by 2020. Obviously, only if the pattern of economic growth is transformed, the gross consumption of resources and pollution of the environment will also quadruple. Actually, many developing countries are industrializing, thus the competition for resources is becoming more intense undoubtedly. In the last century, 15 percent of developing countries entered into the industrial stage of development. In the twenty-first century, 85 percent of developing countries will follow the same path, which will place great demands on the world's resources. Finally, prices of important resources such as petroleum will skyrocket.

China is undergoing rapid economic growth while looming scarcity of resources. The challenge that China faces is to slacken the intense conflict between fostering economic growth and the resulting stresses on resources and the environment too. For example, China's large output of steel, cement, aluminum, and other important products puts an enormous strain on resources. Since China's per capita resources are only 79 percent of the world average, alleviation of the conflict among competing interests in economic growth, resource conservation, and preservation of the environment is an important problem and at first priority with which China will have to deal in the near future.

Also International competition is becoming more intense. The spread of economic globalization and the rapid advance of science and technology mean both opportunities and challenges for China. Economic globalization is a bilateral rather than unilateral process. China cannot participate in globalization without opening its internal markets. Thus a problem arises in that our domestic industries have to compete internationally at the same time that our international competitors are moving their operations within China's borders. Economic competition is primarily competition in the development of science and technology. In this respect, China's competitive ability is weak. The general level of science and technology in modern China is low, and the degree of dependence on foreign science and technology reaches 50 percent, which results in China's subjection to other countries in key technologies. Presently, the contribution of high tech industry to the total value of China's industrial output is less than thirty percent, compared with 60 to 70 percent in developed countries. Most of China's core technologies are imported. For example, in 2002, 95 percent of China's semiconductor manufacturing facilities and 70 percent of automobile plants were dependent on imported technology. Funding for research and development in China is limited. Only $23.8 billion was allocated in 2004, which is just one-thirteenth of the U.S. figure. If this situation is not changed, the gap between China and the developed countries will widen, and it will be impossible for China to achieve modernization.

The other thing that we should be concerned is that our opening-up process is moving toward the mode of depending more and more on foreign countries. The degree of dependence on Chinese foreign trade (the ratio of the total value of imports and exports to GDP) tends to increase: it was only 9.7 percent in 1978, but reached 65.6 percent in 2006, of which 36.1 percent were exports and 29.5 percent imports. The main part of Chinese foreign trade is assembling, with the beginning and end outside the country, so the domestic sphere does not add much additional value. The proportion of the assembling trade to the total value of Chinese exports is 54.7 percent; the proportion of general trade is only 41.3 percent. Foreign-funded enterprises, however, have played a main role in Chinese foreign trade. The proportion of imports and exports by state-owned enterprises to the total was 70.2 percent in 1994; for others it was 29.8 percent including foreign-funded and collective-owned enterprises. The state-owned enterprises' share went down to 28.6 percent, but the foreign-funded enterprises rose to 57.5 percent in 2004. The total value of Chinese high and new technology exports increased from $US24.7 billion $US218.25 billion during 1999-2005, which is a 7.8-times increase, but the exports of Chinese high and new technology depend seriously on foreign countries. The proportion of exports of general trade is decreasing and the proportion of exports in the assembling trade in increasing. The value of high and new technology exports in the assembling trade in 2002 is $US60.63 billion (89.3 percent of the total value of high and new technology exports), an increase of 20 percent in comparison with 1993. The foreign-funded enterprises play a dominant role in the export of high and new technology, their proportion of the total high and new technology exports was 82.2 percent in 2002. The actual investment value of foreign-only investment enterprises surpassed other foreign direct investment in 2001. It is still increasing in proportion and quantity, and is becoming dominant. The value of FDI was $US60.325 billion in 2005, including 42.961 billion of foreign-only direct investment. While foreign investment brings about an increase on job opportunities, it squeezes out the development of national enterprises.

The market economy plays an important role in resource allocation, especially in competitive areas, but it is imperfect and unable to maintain a comprehensive macroeconomic balance, a correct relationship between competition and monopoly, protection of resources and environment, and a socially fair distribution, among other aspects of distribution.

Last but not least, the Chinese income gap is very wide, much wider than in some developed countries. The polarization in possession of social wealth, however, should cause most concern. Why did the gap in income and wealth become wider in past years, in spite of opposition and controls? The reason was ignorance of the fact that the ownership reform, including the granting or sale of public assets cheaply, must result in this tendency of distribution. Here the central government must pay more attention to social equality and fairness. Measures should be taken, both in property and distribution, to reach distribution harmony by raising low incomes, enlarging middle incomes, adjusting high incomes, and banning income that are illegal.

Conclusion 结论
To conclude, it is no doubt that the raise of China is since the reform and opening-up in 1978, and the core of the reform and opening-up is the socialist market economy. China puts forward it's objectives of economic and social development after reflecting on its experiences, learning from those of other countries, and bringing its own creativity into play. This shows that the socialist market economy is becoming mature. Although China's growth shows us a very good performance, ther are still some threats can affect China's sustained growth o we should keep on work hard in order to achieve China's sustained development.