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Emancipation
“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. |
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Reform Was Accompanied by an Open Door PolicyPeriod: Emancipation (1978-84)
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Click to expand I should say that one prominent feature of China’s reform is that China’s reform was accompanied by an open door [policy]. That’s basically the difference between Deng Xiaoping’s reform and Nikita Khrushchev’s reform in the former Soviet Union. Khrushchev’s reform was just reform. At that time, they didn't really appreciate the model effect of the United States. So, everybody knows the funny debate between him, Nikita Khrushchev, and Richard Nixon, right? "The Kitchen Debates." At that time, the Soviets were really very confident in themselves. They believed that, in 1980, they would enter a new stage of so-called fada shehui zhuyi, advanced socialism and that in year 2000, they would reach the stage of communism. That’s very funny in man-made imagination, but I think Deng Xiaoping was very realistic and knew the reality of both the outside world and China.
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