How Politics, Economic Reforms and Strategies influenced the development of India and China during the last century

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - General, grade: 2, University of Vienna (Sinologie), language: English, abstract: China and India, two countries that 50 years ago were at about the same stage of economic development, are now both at very different levels, with China being far ahead of India. To better understand the reforms and development in both countries, a brief overview of the history of the two countries is given first. Then a critical incident, that should disturb the relationship of both countries for many years to follow and that also had economical consequences, namely the 1962 border war, is covered. The journey is then continued in the mid 70s, when China started its reforms, later on India did so as well. Neither does this paper want to go into too much detail nor cover the whole series of events taking place in each of the countries, but rather focus on the crucial moments of both countries' history that are of relevance for an understanding of their performance nowadays.