History of the People's Republic of China

Roundtable discussion on the book "Histoire de la République Populaire de Chine" with authors Xiaohong Xiao-Planes (IFRAE) and Alain Roux. The meeting will be discussed by Chloé Froissart (IFRAE).

In 1949, when the Communists seized power, China was one of the poorest countries on the planet. Today, the People's Republic of China is the world's second-largest economic power and the only one able to challenge American hegemony.

This handbook explains this meteoric rise. It provides an analysis of China in the "Mao years", marked by the building of the foundations of its newfound power as well as the catastrophe of the Great Leap Forward famine and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. He then outlines the complex process of Deng Xiaoping's reform, with its successes and setbacks - rising inequalities, corruption and violation of freedoms, arrogance towards neighboring states... Finally, he depicts Xi Jinping's present-day China, which is asserting itself at the vanguard of the current digital and artificial intelligence revolution to realize its ambition as a global superpower. But the Chinese economic miracle has come to an end, while the world order put in place in 1945 has been profoundly shaken.