India, Oct. 25 -- The great winner of this century has been China. At the turn of the century, its gross domestic product (GDP) stood at $1.2 trillion, and, today, it is $18.7 trillion - essentially, a multiplier of 15.5 in 25 years. India's creditable rise, of 8.5 times (from $485 billion to $4.1 trillion) in the same period dwarfs in comparison, given that, in 1980, China's GDP was approximately the same as India's ($191 billion dollars to $186 billion). As a non-China scholar, in this piece, I offer an outside-in view on this unprecedented achievement.

Fix the basics: In 1978, on taking charge as the paramount leader - the informal designation used to refer to the most important political figure in China - Deng Xiaoping made several s...