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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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Chinese Were Enthusiastic About The New BeginningPeriod: Emancipation (1978-84)
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Click to expand I remember the summer and fall, in 1980. That was really blue sky, the Chinese people were so enthusiastic with that new beginning, Reform and Open Door. Particularly the younger ones. They invited me to their home at night and we'd play mah-jong together until 3 o'clock in the morning, and we talked a lot about the future, of China, of the future Japanese-Chinese relationship, perhaps naively, in such optimistic terms. And I remember, the National People's Congress had more than 3000 proposals from the Representatives and many of them were published in the People's Daily. Some of them really raised serious critical questions to the Party leadership, to the State leadership in a very honest way. Of course, they did not reveal everything, they did not report everything, but that was the day, it really captures that zeitgeist in those days. The Chinese really, genuinely wanted to change, and for the good. For the Japanese, that was really one of the most rewarding, inspirational days, because they really, genuinely seemed to be interested in things Japanese. How Japan developed after the devastation of World War II, and in what way Japan really developed its economy. How did Japan maintain its culture and tradition on the one hand while adjusting to the international economy and international society? Intellectually and psychologically, they really were trying to grope for something and it was a really refreshing and rewarding experience for me.
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