Posted on
Deng Xiaoping China’s great reform leader,
faced a serious problem in the 1970s. Thousands of young Chinese were crossing
to Hong Kong risking their lives. Rather than cracking down on the migrants,
Deng sought to understand why they were migrating. Clearly the economic
opportunities in Hong Kong were greater than in mainland China. Deng was also
impressed by the rapid rise of the some asian economies, in particular the
modernisation of Singapore.
Singaporeans, like the residents of Hongkong, were majority Chinese by
descent and had even less natural resources. How did they achieve something
that China couldn’t?