THE LEGACIES OF DENG XIAOPING AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM

Over the last few days there has been lots of coverage in the press of the centenary of the birth of Deng XiaoPing. He is being hailed as the great reformer, who put China on the path towards capitalism and the huge economic growth that has got everyone all excited over the last few years. In Hong Kong the great and good are all lavishing praise upon him and generally toadying up to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party in the most nauseating way imaginable. But before everyone gets too carried away, let's just have a look at where China stands.

According World Bank figures, at the end of 2004, average per capita income in China was $960 per annum. This puts them 86th on the list, just behind powerhouses such as Swaziland (77th - $1,240) and Gaza and the West Bank (81st - $1,110) and a long way behind leaders Norway (bet that surprised you!) at $38,730.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, is 8th on the list, at $24,690 per capita.

The evil British imperialists managed to turn the inhabitants of a small fishing village, with almost no natural resources, into the 8th richest people in the world. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party managed to turn resource and labour rich China into a slum.

If that is where the great Chinese economic miracle, and the oft-repeated "5,000 years of Chinese culture" gets you, then you can keep it! The Brits may not have been the most enlightened colonial masters in the world but I think their legacy is one the rest of China wouldn't mind having.