China and India are one of the oldest civilizations of the World. A lot of leaders with original thought, inventions and art came out from these two countries during the earliest times of the human race.
Both these countries produced great leaders during their earlier times. India saw a renaissance in her through people like Ashoka the beloved, Buddha and China through people like Confucius. Several important philosophies like Confucianism, Upanishads, Buddhism, and Mahabharata came out of these countries.
Communism is a classless society based on Marxism where majority of property is controlled by the state. There is a single party ruling the country with considerable authority in making decisions regarding the country. Communism came to China in the 20th century. China has made rapid progress due to rapid decision making and implementation of large scale projects in the country. Majority of the masses have been lifted out of poverty however they have limited democratic rights to express themselves (especially against the government).
During the time of Aryans, cast system was introduced in India for systematic organization of people with different habits, culture, and profession. This system continued to proliferate and has currently become too rigid to absorb change. It has become a hindrance for progress and development. It also created the problem of unity within our country as people were restricted to a particular community for socializing. Leaders produced had excellent qualities however lacked foresight to see India as one whole.
Both China and India experienced explosive population growth in the 19th and the 20th century doubling their population every 100 years. This has led to a severe strain on the natural resources and the environment. China has recently implemented the 1-child policy to check its population.
China opened up its economy in 1970, allowed foreign investment and rapidly grew its economy towards a developed economy. Decisive government, patriotic & hard working people helped it to rapidly lift its masses out of poverty, import & integrate technology. It is currently the largest exporter in the world.
Due to uncontrollable debt, India had to liberalize in 1991 opening up its economy to the World. This launched India to integrate the technology of West with its culture. However a large population, indecisive democratic government, cast system has been a hindrance to lift its majority out of poverty, integrate technology and become a developed nation. It would be several decades before we become a developed nation. The probability of success is stacked against her.
Some current scenario facts of China & India are shown in the table below:
Region/ Country | People | Qualities | Population (Million) | GDP (Trillion$) | Exports/ Imports | Industries / Companies | Outlook |
China | Confucius | Patriotic, Hard Working | 1300 | 4.3 | Largest Exporter | Diversified / Petro China, Bank of China, China Construction, China Pet & Chem, China Telecom, China Life Insurance, Bank of Communications, Baoshan Iron and Steel, China Shenhua Energy, Ping An Insurance | 4 |
India* | Ashoka the beloved, Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha | The Current India is yet to define itself | 1200 | 1.2 | 1% of World Exports | Diversified / Reliance, ONGC, SBI, IOC, ICICI, NTPC, SAIL, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication | 1 |
There are several thoughts and questions about the future of China and India
1. Due to an increasing large population & decreasing quality of life, where will the future leaders come from in China and India?
2. Currently India has a rigid caste system. If she has to replace it with a new system, what would it be like?
3. As both China & India are known for outsourcing & manufacturing and innovation hard to come by, when will they excel or be on-par with the developed world?
4. Both the countries are in an in-between state where their old philosophy has been lost and innovation hard to come by. Where are these two countries heading to? Or are they just living by the day?
5. *After more than 60 years after Independence, India is yet to make our own Indian flag properly. The Ashoka chakra rolled over 1 inch to the left from the middle of the Indian flag. I am then confused, what is the definition of patriotism?
# All data in this blog is either from Glimpses of World History by Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, Wikipedia or Google