
	Emancipation From Mao to Deng Capitalism in the Countryside Growing Out of the Plan “Reform and opening” started from the top with the seminal leadership transition from Mao to Deng. Deng Xiaoping heralded China’s boom in late 1978 when he called for experiments with “economic democracy” and “emancipation” from orthodox ideas. But the boom was not simply a top-down, state-orchestrated phenomenon. In fact, the biggest contribution of the state, especially in the first phase of growth, was to get out of the way. Farmers were liberated from collectives, sparking a wildfire of capitalism in the countryside. Urban markets and industry were freed to “grow out of the plan,” making profits on surplus production and creating powerful incentives for rapid growth.

The Birth of Private Workers, The Death of People’s Communes

Period: Emancipation (1978-84)

Reform Was Accompanied by an Open Door Policy
Jin Canrong
Deng Xiaoping Was Modern China's First Modernizer
Xu Xiaonian
Phasing Out The Planned Economy
Barry Naughton
Chinese Were Enthusiastic About The New Beginning
Yoichi Funabashi
If We Don't Do Anything, This Country is Ruined
Philip P. Pan
Economics Was a Minor Aspect of Opening in 70s
Winston Lord
Deng's Visit to The US Resulted in Capitalism
Mao Yushi
The Resurgent Elite Legitimized Deng's Government
Michael Anti
China's Development in Three Periods
Li Cheng
The Legacy of Property Provides Stability
Fan Jianchuan
Eating from One Rice Bowl
Zhong Taiyin
Factory Managers Did Not Understand Business
Thomas Rawski
Playing to The Provinces
Susan Shirk
For 800 Million People, It Was a Huge Bang
Deborah Davis
Beijing Back Then Was Like Pyongyang
Carl E. Walter
The Birth of Private Workers, The Death of People’s Communes
Bao Yujun
One Child Policy Stimulated Growth
Michael Pettis
People Who Fall Behind Will Be Beaten
Cai Guoqiang
Deng Understood That the World Had Changed
Wu Jianmin

Bao Yujun

Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief, People's Daily

Bao Yujun, an ethnic Mongolian, was born in 1942 in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1965, and he graduated from the journalism faculty of the People's University of China in 1966. He held high-ranking positions in People's Daily, becoming deputy editor-in-chief in 1988. He is currently the president of the China Private Enterprises Association and the vice-chairman or the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce's Executive Committee.

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It began with allowing people to be self-employed business owners. Once a self-employed business reached a bigger scale, hiring employees was allowed. Back then, the phrase "hiring employees" in Communist doctrine meant exploitation. Our Party leaders at the time were quite wise, they didn't use the phrase "hiring employees." They used other phrases instead, for example: "ask for helpers," or "train apprentices." One could ask for one or two helpers, or train three to five apprentices. The total number should not exceed seven. What happens when there are more than seven? In that situation, for example, in Wuhu, Nian Guangjiu, who sells sunflower seeds, hired more than 100 employees. Local authorities arrested him. When Deng Xiaoping learned about this, he said: "We can't have him arrested. The impact would be too big. Let's wait and see." So from 1982 to 1987, the self-employed business model experiment had been observed for 5 years.

During this five years, self-employed business boomed in urban areas, so did private business. This is the situation in urban area. In rural area, since 1979, peasants started to think creatively by themselves. The People's commune system was holding back every peasant's productivity. That is why with the same labor and land condition, the People's commune system could not make crops grow in the fields. So the development of agriculture was very slow. People were starving in a lot of places. At this point, a peasant in Xiaogang Village of Fengyang County, Anhui Province, secretly organized “household responsibility system." 18 families secretly agreed to allocate the land and each take individual responsibility to cultivate. After this had been established, just the second year, the local Grain Administration became rich because villagers began paying agriculture tax. Before that, every year the villagers had to go out of town to beg for food. Wan Li, then Party Secretary of Anhui province, firmly supported the peasants when he learned about the experiment. So did Deng Xiaoping. So this is when reforms in rural area began, with a change from the People's commune system to the household responsibility system. Later, Zhao Ziyang, introduced this practice to Sichuan province, gradually and naturally dismantled the People's commune system.

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Emancipation

The Birth of Private Workers, The Death of People’s Communes

Period: Emancipation (1978-84)

Reform Was Accompanied by an Open Door Policy

Deng Xiaoping Was Modern China's First Modernizer

Phasing Out The Planned Economy

Chinese Were Enthusiastic About The New Beginning

If We Don't Do Anything, This Country is Ruined

Economics Was a Minor Aspect of Opening in 70s

Deng's Visit to The US Resulted in Capitalism

The Resurgent Elite Legitimized Deng's Government

China's Development in Three Periods

The Legacy of Property Provides Stability

Eating from One Rice Bowl

Factory Managers Did Not Understand Business

Playing to The Provinces

For 800 Million People, It Was a Huge Bang

Beijing Back Then Was Like Pyongyang

The Birth of Private Workers, The Death of People’s Communes

One Child Policy Stimulated Growth

People Who Fall Behind Will Be Beaten

Deng Understood That the World Had Changed

Bao Yujun

Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief, People's Daily

Add New Comment

Map the interviews