CHINA : A Bridge From Communism to Capitalism

“Ode to the Trailblazers,” a music-and-dance show staged on the 10th anniversary of Shenzhen’s establishment as China’s first “special economic zone,” displayed a bizarre mix of old propaganda forms and new artistic freedoms.

A theater critic might question whether creators of this paean to Shenzhen’s growth suffered from schizophrenia: Some scenes were reminiscent of radical leftist “model operas” staged in the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution; others had women in sexy costumes performing modern dance of highly uncertain ideological content.

But as social history, the eclectic performance, viewed recently by Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin and top local officials, perfectly captured the spirit of today’s Shenzhen.

This booming city, adjacent to the British colony of Hong Kong, has pioneered China’s decade-long effort to graft capitalistic practices and foreign investment onto a socialist system run under Communist Party dictatorship.

Once a sleepy village, Shenzhen now has a population of 1 million, although movement into the zone is strictly controlled.

The city looks and feels, in many ways, like an outpost of Hong Kong. High-rise office towers give it a modern skyline, and people enjoy much greater prosperity than elsewhere in China. Western cultural influences flow with investment: The first McDonald’s in China recently opened here; it is jammed with customers every day.

Still, the zone remains under absolute Communist Party control. Ideological campaigns against “bourgeois liberalization,” a code word for Western-style democracy, are waged here, as elsewhere in China. At a news conference during the recent celebrations, Shenzhen Mayor Zheng Liangyu noted that a television special this fall lavishing praise on the Communist Party was produced here.

Many observers question whether market-oriented practices can long coexist with one-party rule, in “special economic zones” like Shenzhen or in China as a whole.

But, so far, Shenzhen’s results are impressive. Zheng outlined these achievements:

* More than 3,000 Sino-foreign joint ventures have been set up in the zone, with investment capital of $3 billion.

* Shenzhen’s contribution to gross national product has grown at an average annual rate of 47%. It will hit $2.5 billion this year.

* Exports made up 58% of the zone’s industrial output in 1989.

* Market-oriented economic reforms first launched in Shenzhen are spreading in China.

But Shenzhen’s very success holds clouds for its future. As reforms pioneered here are copied, Shenzhen loses some of the competitive edge that made it special. China has only five official “special economic zones,” but the liberal policies that have helped these areas prosper are gradually being extended to many coastal cities.

While existing policies are not seriously threatened, hard-line ideologues in Beijing have succeeded for two years in blocking rapid implementation of major new reforms. Progress is occurring only slowly, for example, in expanding Shenzhen’s fledgling stock market.

Zhou Xiwu, Shenzhen’s vice mayor in charge of planning, acknowledged that local officials harbor little hope of major reform initiatives soon.

Zhou added, however, that Shenzhen is seeking permission to further relax border controls between the zone and Hong Kong, while tightening controls between it and the rest of China.

It is a change that could further enhance the role of this schizophrenic boom town as a Communist-ruled but suspiciously capitalistic bridge between two worlds.