From poverty to power in one generation: what Pakistan can learn from China

If you stood in Shenzhen in 1978, you would see rice paddies, fishing boats, and dirt roads stretching toward the horizon. Stand there today and you are surrounded by glass towers, high-speed trains, and one of the world’s most powerful technology ecosystems. That transformation did not come from luck or foreign charity. It came from a deliberate break with dogma, led by one man “Deng Xiaoping”.

Deng inherited a nation that was exhausted, politically, economically, and psychologically. The Cultural Revolution had shattered trust, paralyzed institutions, and left people cynical about slogans. China did not need more ideology; it needed food, dignity, and hope. Deng understood something simple but radical: systems exist to serve people, not the other way around. His most famous line captured this perfectly “cross the river by feeling the stones”.

Reform at Home, Opening to the World

Deng’s strategy came in two overlapping waves. The first was reform at home. Farmers were allowed to sell surplus crops after meeting state quotas. Township and village enterprises emerged. Private workshops—once condemned—were tolerated and then encouraged. For the first time in decades, effort translated into reward.

The second wave was opening up to the world. China created Special Economic Zones (SEZs), small geographic experiments where foreign capital, technology, and management practices were welcomed. The most famous of these was Shenzhen, a sleepy border town chosen precisely because it had little to lose. Shenzhen became a sandbox for policy innovation: tax incentives, export-oriented manufacturing, flexible labor rules, and minimal bureaucratic friction.

The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything

Perhaps Deng’s most revolutionary move was psychological. When he declared that “to get rich is glorious,” he shattered centuries of moral suspicion toward ambition. Wealth was no longer shameful; it was proof of contribution. Markets replaced ration coupons. Incentives replaced slogans. People stopped waiting for permission and started building.

Pakistan cannot and should not copy China’s political model. But it can absolutely adopt China’s pragmatism

China didn’t just open its economy, it opened its imagination. Before Deng, the state tried to force people to fit the system. After Deng, the system adapted to fit people. That shift reprogrammed China’s sense of possibility and unleashed the greatest poverty-reduction effort in human history.

Pakistan’s Moment of Choice

Pakistan today is not China in 1978, but the echoes are impossible to ignore. A young population, strategic geography, chronic balance-of-payments crises, policy inconsistency, and deep mistrust between citizens and the state. Like China then, Pakistan does not lack talent or ambition. It lacks a system that rewards effort predictably.

The most important lesson from China is not SEZs, infrastructure, or exports. It is mindset. Deng asked a brutally honest question: What actually works? Pakistan must ask the same, without ideological defensiveness, without nostalgia, and without fear of admitting past mistakes.

What “Pragmatism as Policy” Would Look Like in Pakistan

1. Make Growth the Supreme National Objective

China aligned the entire bureaucracy around a single metric “economic growth and poverty reduction”. Promotions depended on results. Pakistan’s state machinery is fragmented, security, politics, and economics often pull in different directions. A clear national consensus is needed “job creation and exports come first”, everything else supports that goal.

2. Reform Agriculture First, Not Last

China began with farmers because that’s where most people were poor. Pakistan’s agriculture employs over a third of the workforce but remains trapped in low productivity. Allowing farmers true price discovery, modern storage, contract farming, and agro-processing can quickly raise rural incomes. This does not require abandoning tradition, only removing distortions that punish efficiency.

3. Real Special Economic Zones, Not Real Estate Projects

Pakistan already has SEZs on paper. What it lacks are zones that actually work. China’s zones succeeded because they were autonomous, boringly efficient, and ruthlessly focused on exports. For Pakistan, that means:

· One-window approvals with legal force

· Guaranteed power and logistics

· Stable tax policy for 15–20 years

· Professional zone management insulated from political interference

SEZs should be treated as national experiments. If one succeeds, copy it. If it fails, shut it down without drama.

Open the Door - Then Get Out of the Way

China welcomed foreign investors not as saviours, but as teachers. Instead of obsessing over control, focus on spillovers: skills, supply chains, and export discipline. Joint ventures, especially in electronics, textiles upgrading, agribusiness, and renewable energy, can anchor Pakistan into global value chains.

Just as important, once rules are set, the state must step back. Policy volatility is poison to investment. Deng understood that confidence compounds faster than capital.

Redefine the Role of the State

China’s state was strong, but not suffocating. It planned direction, not micromanagement. Pakistan’s government must shift from operator to enabler, setting standards, enforcing contracts, investing in human capital, and letting entrepreneurs do the rest.

This also means reforming the civil service incentive structure. In China, local officials were rewarded for building factories, roads, and jobs. In Pakistan, success is often defined by avoiding risk, that culture must flip.

A New Social Contract Around Aspiration

Perhaps the hardest lesson is cultural. Deng legitimized ambition. Pakistan needs a similar reset. Wealth created through productivity, exports, and innovation must be socially respected, not morally questioned. The message should be simple “if you create jobs, earn dollars, and follow the law, the state is on your side”.

This doesn’t mean abandoning social justice. China paired growth with gradual expansion of education, health, and infrastructure. Growth created the resources, policy determined distribution. Pakistan can and must do the same.

Not Copying China, But Learning From It

Pakistan cannot and should not copy China’s political model. But it can absolutely adopt China’s pragmatism. Reform does not require perfection. It requires motion. Deng once said reforms should be like “crossing the river by feeling the stones.”

Pakistan has been standing on the riverbank for decades, debating the water. The real legacy of China’s Reform and Opening Up is not skyscrapers or trade surpluses. It is the courage to discard what no longer works and the humility to test what might. If Pakistan can embrace that spirit, one generation is more than enough to change its destiny. As Xi Jinping said, “We must have the strategic patience to do things that benefit the future, even if they do not bring immediate gains” and “Happiness comes from hard work, and development depends on struggle”.