China’s Age of Abundance: A Reflection

The Moynihan Institutes’ East Asia Program welcomes Professor Wang Feng from the University of California, Irvine.  

Has China’s rapid economic growth come to an end? What lessons can be drawn to better understand China’s historical rise to material abundance? Drawing on insights from his new book, Professor Wang revisits four prominent narratives often used to explain China’s remarkable transformation over the past four decades: that China’s growth was preordained, driven by state-initiated reforms, fueled by an abundant supply of cheap labor, and that its experience is fundamentally unique. Professor Wang traces the origins of this transformation, outlines the pathways that led to China’s material abundance, and reexamines the underlying driving forces. He argues that China’s ascendance was, at its core, a process of industrialization and urbanization with distinctly Chinese characteristics. He contends that growth originated from grassroots initiatives within society and that China’s supply of cheap labor was both a boon to economic growth and a source of exploitation. As the surplus created during this “age of abundance” begins to dwindle, the Chinese state faces mounting fiscal challenges. Rapid population aging, persistent inequalities and a resurgence of political rigidity are among the key headwinds that may hasten the end of this era.

This talk is co-sponsored by Asian/Asian American Studies, Chinese Studies minor, Moynihan China Focus Initiative and the Sociology Department.

Wang Feng is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. He is a scholar with expertise in global demographic change, social inequality, public policy, and comparative population and social history. Between 2010 and 2013, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and directed the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy in Beijing. Wang is the author of several award-winning books in his research areas and has contributed to many other publications. His latest book, “China’s Age of Abundance: Origins, Ascendance, and Aftermath,” examines the underlying forces driving China’s four-decade-long historical transformations.