This article is a form of reflection on the Chinese development model. In the ongoing discussion on this subject, the view seems to prevail that the source of the country’s economic success is the use of evidence-based policy, understood as “scientific development,” that is, basing economic policy on the most recent findings of development economics. The conclusion of this article is quite the opposite. It turns out that the foundations of the Chinese development paradigm are assumptions that are very similar to the principles around which Edmund Burke's concept of modern conservatism is built. A specific core of this concept is aversion and skepticism toward scientific theories, combined with the postulate of the gradual nature of all economic and social changes. Ultimately, however, it turns out that modern conservatism alone is also not sufficient in explaining the Chinese development success. The second pillar is the relevant set of development goals and their proper sequence.
University of California Press