I travelled to Cuba during Christmas holiday. From the viewpoint of a Chinese-Canadian who has had the experience of growing up in China throughout decades of economic reform under a Communist political system, I can see some similarities between Cuba and China; Cuba today is what China was like during the 1980s and ‘90s. 

I, and almost everyone who goes to Cuba, adore its 500 year-old French and Spanish style architecture. Sadly, due to a lack of resources and the difficulty of restoration, many old buildings are collapsing. With Cuba’s new President, Raul Castro ushering major economic reforms, many Western economists are talking about the impact of allowing foreign and private investment into the Cuban market. However, I think China’s experience in opening the floodgates to development and foreign investment should offer some caution. For example, analysts are predicting that due to the surge of development in real estate, the housing bubble is going to burst within a decade, leading to an economic crisis similar to, if not bigger than the global recession.

The new Cuban reforms have already made their first appearance by allowing regular Cubans to buy foreign-made cars without requiring permits from the government. Despite the large number of 1950s classic American cars, I found that Cuba had already seen an influx of older style Volkswagens, Soviet-era Ladas and Skodas and a variety of older European-made cars prior to this new decree. This is similar to China in the ‘90s, when the Volkswagen Jetta and Citroën Fukang were dominating the new car economy. In today’s China, however, it is hard to find those once popular practical-use cars – the luxury car market has been booming, and people are buying cars for the appearance of affluence, rather than practicality. China’s massive move to car-culture also strained existing infrastructure, and forced China to invest more resources away from social programming.

One such shift came in the way food is distributed. Cuba currently operates under a food distribution and rationing system similar to China from 1950 to the ‘90s. Generally, the government distributes a “supplies booklet” to each family so that people can buy food under subsidized prices from a ration shop which provides living essentials to each family. This is a way to ensure that each family gets a minimum “fair share” of basic necessities regardless of their income. 

China abolished this system in 1995. Since then the prices of commodities have been rising rapidly due to the opening of the free-market. The consumer-led, artificially high demand has increased inflation and widened the gap between rich and poor. In the past four years, many Chinese people talk about how the cost of food and living continues will climb higher. 

Additionally, compared to the free education and free health care policy in Cuba, Chinese people now have to pay a lot for education and health care services.

I think Cuba can learn some valuable lessons from China’s experience, especially when we consider the balance between rapid growth, and fairness, a healthy environment, and happiness.

Jennifer Chen recently graduated from the University of Manitoba with an M.Sc. in Kinesiology. She was the Vice-President Academic of the Graduate Students’ Association and has been actively involved in the campus and broader community for four years. She is interested in local politics and city planning policies.

Published in Volume 68, Number 17 of The Uniter (January 22, 2014)