When China opened the door to the world, it can be argued that it opened up the world as a truly global market. When people talk about globalization it can be argued that globalization would not be complete without China. After WWII the meaning of globalization came to the fore as political figures from around the world began connecting to remove barriers that hampered trade. At this time the meaning globalization meant trade within the western markets only. That was a large 50% of the world market still behind the communist wall.
“Open Door” policy in China
The open door policy began in China in 1978. At that time China was a die hard communist country. The motivation for the open door policy was not to embrace in total capitalism, but rather mix capitalist policies with the communist beliefs of the time. Such a system could help the Chinese people to relieve poverty and to enable the generation of economic momentum within the country. Such a radical shift in policy was critical to the long term survival of China in the long term. This reform sparked a major step in the word globalization of the world.
The effects of globalization
How China began globalizing
As China opened up, many of the well known multi-nationals that we hear of today took the opportunity to invest in this new market to take advantage of low cost labour. China at the beginning took anxious steps towards embracing foreign companies. The Chinese government would not allow a foreign company own it 100%. When the Chinese started to open up, they did not know how to handle foreign corporations. Initially they feared they would lose their market to foreigners. Their underlining policy was to have a prosperous. The Chinese wanted a win-win situation for their country, therefore they allowed foreign companies to move and expand in small steps. The Chinese wanted to analyse those who they allowed to do business over 30 years ago. They wanted to learn from western corporations and to analyse how they position themselves within the Chinese market.
