Xi Jinping claims that China has achieved a tremendous feat by raising the standard of living of its citizens. "No other country can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in such a short time," he said in 2021, describing the achievement as "a human miracle that will go down in history." However, another huge challenge awaits; keeping China out of the so-called “middle-income trap” - a stage of economic development at which wage levels stagnate. If that happens, it would prevent China from joining the ranks of rich nations, even if its economy is the largest in the world, overtaking America in its total size. In this podcast, Scott Rozelle from Stanford University discusses China's trajectory of development with host, Duncan Bartlett.
China In Context: Episode 52
Broadcast date: 15 February, 2022