China Forges Own Path After Crisis, Doubting Western Model
-
The 2007-2008 financial crisis led China to conclude that it did not have much more to learn from the West's economic model, leading it to chart a different course focused on manufacturing and avoiding financialization.
-
China responded by centralizing political power under Xi Jinping to reduce factionalism and increase authoritarian control.
-
China engaged in a massive infrastructure investment boom after 2008, building the equivalent of 20 Japans' worth of high-speed rail.
-
China pursued a more boring, traditional economic model focused on manufacturing that would employ many workers without causing political unrest.
-
China moved away from a "happy convergence" with the US before the crisis to purposeful divergence after, believing its political and economic models were superior.