{"id":3744,"date":"2026-09-26T10:35:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T07:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/?p=3744"},"modified":"2026-09-26T11:49:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T08:19:47","slug":"special-interview-chinas-experience-from-reform-to-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/special-interview-chinas-experience-from-reform-to-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Interview: China\u2019s Experience \u2014 From Reform to Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ali Mohammadi, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Shanghai<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Given your experience of living and working in China, what do you consider to be the most important factors behind the country\u2019s success in pursuing development over the past several decades?<\/h3>\n

One of the fundamental questions that has always been raised among the Iranian public, intellectuals, and academic community is how China managed to achieve such major economic and social development within roughly three decades. In many academic and professional circles, this question has repeatedly been raised: What is the secret behind this remarkable transformation?<\/p>\n

In Iran, the dominant view of development is generally state-centered; that is, the expectation is that the government alone should design and implement the path of development, while society simply benefits from its outcomes. This perspective has led to China\u2019s success being analyzed primarily from the perspective of government performance, whereas my lived experience in China indicates that the country\u2019s development resulted from the interaction and synergy of two fundamental factors.<\/p>\n

I have always summarized China\u2019s development trajectory in four words: management, planning, hard work, and frugality<\/strong>. The first two relate to governance and national management, while the latter two are associated with the cultural and social characteristics of the Chinese people. These two dimensions, together, created the foundations for a successful development model.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the government and the ruling party outlined the path of development through careful planning, long-term goal-setting, and coherent management. On the other hand, the Chinese people actively contributed to achieving these objectives through hard work, discipline, frugality, and trust in the authorities. The result of this synergy was the emergence of a sustainable development model that has attracted the attention of many countries around the world.<\/p>\n

Another important point is mutual trust between the people and the government. After going through difficult periods such as the Cultural Revolution and years of economic hardship, Chinese society reached a critical point at which it concluded that a new path had opened for the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s leaders presented a new vision to society, and the people, by trusting this vision, accompanied the implementation of reform policies. The continuation of this trust has been one of China\u2019s most important forms of social capital in its development process.<\/p>\n

In my view, this trust was not simply the result of propaganda or political slogans. Rather, people could visibly observe the effects of reform in their everyday lives. During my time in Shanghai, I witnessed extensive construction, infrastructure development, and the transformation of the city on a daily basis. Growth and progress were tangible phenomena, and this strengthened public confidence in development policies over time.<\/p>\n

If I were to describe China\u2019s governance structure using three concepts, I would use the words regulation, consolidation, and respect<\/strong>. \u201cRegulation\u201d refers to the careful organization of relations among the state, the party, and society; \u201cconsolidation\u201d refers to the stabilization and strengthening of these rules through governance and oversight mechanisms; and \u201crespect\u201d means that as long as individual behavior does not conflict with social order and public interests, it is supported and respected. Alongside management and planning, these three elements constitute important pillars of China\u2019s governance and development model.<\/p>\n

2. You previously mentioned that you first traveled to Shanghai in the early 1990s, when the city was very different from what it is today. Could you describe your experience at that time and the most important differences you have observed between Shanghai then and now?<\/h3>\n

My first visit to Shanghai dates back to 1992. At that time, the city bore almost no resemblance to the developed and modern metropolis we see today. Developed areas of the city were very limited, and only in certain areas could a few high-rise buildings and several prominent hotels be seen.<\/p>\n

Among the notable buildings of that period were the Portman complex and several other well-known hotels, which were very few compared with today. Elsewhere in the city, there were no skyscrapers or extensive urban development, and Shanghai\u2019s overall appearance was still characteristic of a city in transition.<\/p>\n

Urban transportation was also dramatically different from today. Most vehicles were Santana taxis, produced as a result of cooperation between Volkswagen and China. The bus fleet consisted of very old vehicles and was not in good condition in terms of quality or technology. Shanghai did not yet have a metro network, and intercity trains were also far behind contemporary international standards in terms of facilities and technology.<\/p>\n

Overall, in terms of transportation infrastructure and urban development, China at that time was fundamentally different from the country we see today.<\/p>\n

One of the memories that has always remained with me concerns private car ownership. At that time, almost no citizen in Shanghai owned a private car. I had imported a Nissan from Japan, and this vehicle became a fascinating and unusual sight for many people. Many people would gather around it and take photographs because seeing a private car was a rare experience for a significant part of the population.<\/p>\n

Another memorable incident occurred during a cultural program in which the works of the Iranian master Mahmoud Farshchian were exhibited. At the end of the event, a student wanted to return home. In accordance with our own cultural practice, I offered to drive her to her destination.<\/p>\n

When I briefly stepped away from the vehicle and returned, I saw that she was trying to enter the car through the rear window. The reason was that she had never previously experienced riding in a private passenger car and did not know that one entered a vehicle by opening the door. This scene remained deeply thought-provoking for me because it demonstrated how limited access to personal amenities was for society at that time.<\/p>\n

Another memory that clearly illustrates the conditions of that period relates to a visit I made to one of China\u2019s automobile factories. On the way, one of my Chinese companions asked me, \u201cHow do people travel on the streets of Iran\u2014with camels?\u201d<\/p>\n

The question was very strange and even upsetting to me. They had a highly inaccurate image of Iran and believed that transportation in Iran still depended on camels. Naturally, this perception was far removed from reality and demonstrated how limited Chinese society\u2019s knowledge of Iran was at that time.<\/p>\n

At the same time, this experience reflected a form of historical Sinocentrism in Chinese culture, rooted in the country\u2019s civilizational history and contributing to a perception of China as the \u201ccenter of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1994, the Chinese government gradually issued permits allowing citizens to purchase cars and obtain driving licenses. This decision was part of a broader process of economic reform that was implemented gradually and step by step.<\/p>\n

In the early 1990s, only some stores had been permitted to operate privately. Before that, most economic activity was under government control, and even small shops could not operate independently. With the beginning of reforms, private ownership for small businesses gradually became possible, and people were allowed to engage in individual economic activities. This was one of the first signs of China\u2019s gradual departure from a completely state-controlled economic model and movement toward a market-based economy.<\/p>\n

One of the most important developments I clearly sensed during those years was increasing public trust in the government. People gradually observed that the government was genuinely providing new economic opportunities and that reforms were not merely slogans.<\/p>\n

In different parts of the city, one could see elderly people selling small quantities of garden produce or homemade products\u2014something that had previously been impossible. These limited economic freedoms represented genuine changes in circumstances for many people and increased their hope for the future.<\/p>\n

At that time, China<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ali Mohammadi, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Shanghai 1. Given your experience of living and working in China, what do you consider to be the most important factors behind the country\u2019s success in pursuing development over the past several decades? One of the fundamental questions that has always been raised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,53],"tags":[],"coauthors":[45],"class_list":["post-3744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultural-and-social-commission","category-notes-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3746,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3744\/revisions\/3746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3744"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranbri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}