New life

 

New life

    People in China were not free before the Economic Opening at all, and freedom is an essential part of people life. In the early years of the Republic of China, people life was hard for the average. China was also a closed country for thirty years. Before the Economic Opening, people wanted food to eat and wanted to have a bigger house, but China was undergoing a situation that everything was in short supply. People desired more comfortable living conditions. Therefore, the government made some adjustments in the Economic Opening. The Economic Opening was one of the biggest events that happened in the beginning of Republic of China led by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. The Economic Opening gave my father a lot of chances to change our family life. It brought my family’s a freer and more open environment for doing business and traveling.

    The first benefit brought by the Economic Opening was that my family started their own business. Before the Economic Opening, there were only few companies running by the country, such as banks, markets, restaurants and even hospitals. At that moment, individuals were not allowed to own the companies because there was no private enterprise. However, after the Economic Opening, everything changed and the restrictions on not being able to open a company had been cancelled. At the end of twentieth century, my family finally started own business. My family could do business with people around the world. It was not just those few regular businessmen that nationalized industry did business with. My family is doing commercial business now, and there are more policies that can help my family company improve.

    Moreover, Chinese people could finally travel abroad. There were only a minority of people that had the privilege to go to other countries in the past. For instance, only businessmen, scholars and government employees had the opportunity to apply to go abroad. Therefore, Chinese people had never left the country before. In addition, the typical passport had many limitations at that time. For example, most people had one-time passports to leave the country. Even if they could apply for a multiple passport, they needed to return it back when they went back to China. Due to some policies cancelled by the Economic Opening, Chinese people could go to other countries and make their own travel trip. Currently, there are no limitations on travelling now. People can apply for passport easily by submitting some documents. The cost of going aboard now is lower than before because the strict policy was lifted.

    Lastly, after the Economic Opening, my family could buy everything they want to buy without any permission. There were some policies in the past that limited purchase levels of average citizens. Chinese people needed tickets before they bought food, and those tickets were provided by the government. In addition, at times food was in short supply. Therefore, the tickets were used to limit the amount each person can buy. Even though my family was well off, my family still needed to buy food with the tickets. Otherwise, they couldn't buy anything. Another thing was my family could not buy a house easily in the past. Houses were provided by the government. My father could buy a bigger house if we had a large family. Therefore, my father had no choice but to buy the house which government provided or else my family had no place to live. After the Economic Opening began, the restrictions were all gone. My family finally could buy whatever they want. There are no quantity limitations now, and all Chinese citizens can buy whatever they can afford.

    China had a very difficult situation before the Economic Opening. Today, my father still talks to me about how difficult life was at that time. Since the Economic Opening began, people’s quality of life in my family has improved and it has become easier than before. My family is in more comfortable living conditions because there is a lot of food and houses are easy to buy. Although my country is more open now, I think the big environment in China will be better than now soon. In my opinion, there should be more freedom and more democracy in China.