In 1978, more than 770 million people in China lived in extreme poverty, accounting for 97.5% of the rural population at the time. The country was widely perceived as a weak and economically disadvantaged giant, with per capita GDP below US$200, a fragile industrial foundation, and a considerable technological gap with Western economies.
Forty years later, China has become the world’s largest manufacturing power, the largest trading nation, and the second-largest economy, while eradicating absolute poverty in history. This transformation is unprecedented in human history.
Yet what truly matters is not merely what China did, but how China approached development.
For decades, mainstream Western development theories insisted that escaping poverty required following the so-called “Washington Consensus”: rapid privatisation, comprehensive liberalisation, and unrestricted markets. China did not rigidly copy this model, yet achieved results far surpassing most countries that attempted to follow it.
For Africa and the Global South, therefore, the most important lesson is not to copy China’s policies, but to understand China’s underlying principles — especially policy experimentation, strategic sequencing, results-oriented governance, and most fundamentally: development confidence.
- The five core principles behind China’s rise
1. Policy as experimentation: From “Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones” to top-level design
China’s development was not based on a rigid blueprint. Instead, it evolved through continuous experimentation, summarizing experience, and scaling successful practices.
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Do not wait for a perfect master plan. Select one province, one port, or one industry to establish a policy pilot zone. Allow appropriate trial and error, conduct timely evaluations, and expand effective practices.
2. Strategic sequencing: Solve fundamental problems step by step
China did not attempt to solve all problems at once. Instead, it followed a clear sequence: first ensuring food security and poverty reduction, then advancing industrialisation and infrastructure development, and finally pursuing technological self-reliance and industrial upgrading. Each stage created conditions for the next.
Lesson for the Global South:
Prioritization is essential: food security first, industrial employment second, infrastructure third, and high-tech development last. Skipping stages often leads to structural imbalances.
3. Results-oriented governance: Data, accountability, and measurable outcomes
The core of China’s governance is practical performance management. Targeted poverty alleviation, for example, relied on precise identification, tailored interventions, and strict accountability. Within eight years, nearly 100 million rural people escaped poverty through systematic and quantifiable mechanisms.
Lesson for the Global South:
Without data, there is no effective governance. Countries need national poverty databases, industrial monitoring systems, and performance-based accountability mechanisms.
4. Infrastructure first: Connectivity as the backbone of the economy
China’s experience shows that infrastructure is the foundational framework for integrated economic development. High-speed railways, highways, ports, and logistics networks greatly reduce costs and allow remote regions to escape geographic poverty.
Lesson for the Global South:
Infrastructure investment must align with industrial strategies. Only connectivity that links farms, mines, industrial parks, and ports can truly drive transformation.
5. Development confidence: Maintain strategic independence and mutual respect
China once relied heavily on external development prescriptions, but gradually realised that external models were not always suitable for its national conditions. The turning point came when China trusted its own exploration and stayed committed to its chosen path.
Lesson for the Global South:
Africa is not a testing ground for external models. Africa’s challenges require African solutions based on its own historical, cultural, and social realities.
- Cognitive liberation for Africa and the Global South
Beyond economic decolonisation, a deeper challenge is mental decolonization. The most enduring legacy of colonialism is a deeply internalised sense of inferiority, dependency, and pessimism.
The first step toward liberation is breaking these myths:
- Africa can industrialise.
- Africans can master advanced technologies.
- Africa is not doomed to rely on aid.
- Discipline and efficiency are institutional, not cultural.
The second step is to take China’s experience as a reference point, not a replication template. China’s greatest value is proving that poverty is not destiny and that countries once left behind can become drivers of global progress.
- A practical roadmap for the Global South
Step one: Identify a breakthrough sector
Focus on one competitive sector such as agricultural processing, textiles, mineral beneficiation, or assembly manufacturing, and build a dedicated industrial zone with streamlined services.
Step two: Align infrastructure with industrial development
Ensure infrastructure projects directly support industrial chains, employment, and regional connectivity.
Step three: Adopt data-driven governance
Establish national monitoring systems, set measurable targets, and implement independent evaluation and accountability mechanisms.
Step Four: Use the Belt and Road Initiative as a platform for win-win cooperation
The BRI is a framework for mutual benefit, not one-way reliance. African countries can negotiate for local content requirements, technology transfer, and industrial processing facilities based on their own resources and market advantages.
Step Five: Cultivate a generation of confident leaders and builders
Strengthen education focused on local development cases, expand South-South exchanges, and shape public narratives centered on African capability and progress.
No Miracle — Only Principles
China’s rise is not an inexplicable miracle. China had no magic formula, but a set of practical and learnable principles: experimentation, sequencing, accountability, infrastructure, and above all, confidence.
For Africa and the Global South, the greatest obstacle is not capital, technology, or institutions, but self-doubt. China’s journey proves a profound truth: extreme poverty is not destiny. Every country must design its own path based on its own realities, resources, and priorities.
The first and most essential ingredient is confidence: the belief that a people once underestimated can still shape their own future.
*Saxon Zvina is a principal consultant at Skyworld Consultancy Services, member, Belt and Road Initiative Think Tank
Email: [email protected] | X: @saxonzvina2
