The Four Modernizations
After the death of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping saw an opportunity to make his political comeback. Deng left Peking for Canton in 1976 and sought protection from the military governor of the province, General Xu Shiyou. In July 1977, Deng was reappointed to his previous positions of power including his vice-premiership, the Politburo and the Military Affairs Commission. Under the different policy strategies of Deng and Hua Guofeng, although rigid government plans were still affecting production, China had many technological breakthroughs.
While Deng and Hua had different approaches to modernization, Deng’s plan, which included integrating foreign involvement and technology, started to gain momentum. A significant number of universities were to be developed and there was a priority for students and scientists to receive technical training, especially in foreign countries. Progress in foreign and domestic policy was made as well with key events such as diplomatic relations between the United States and China being made as well as policies that showed there would be a relaxation of repression and censorship domestically. But the most important policy change would happen at the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CCP in 1978.
First, the CCP must not overthrow government operations and the government should not hold back industry production. Second, key agricultural policy changes were made such as allowing peasants to produce and sell on the side, raising the price paid for grain harvested and reducing costs of production materials. Third, the government would be installing new safeguards against corruption to ensure a smooth transition towards modernization. After the conclusion of the Third Plenum, actions were taken by the Chinese government to show their support of foreign investment and good foreign relations. After the announcement of China’s full diplomatic cooperation with the United States, Deng visited President Carter and the Japanese prime minister. Even so, with China opening up to the rest of the world and focusing on other parts of modernization, its leaders were intent on showing that they have not neglected national defense.
The Fifth Modernization
With China opening itself to the West and becoming less repressive and censured, thousands of Chinese started expressing their thoughts and opinions through posters that would be displayed on walls. Most prominent of them was the Democracy wall, with many posters calling for democratic freedom in China. The main methods of expressing oneself in this time were either wall posters or small magazines.
The most impactful call for democracy was by Wei Jingsheng, whose wall poster titled, ‘The Fifth Modernization’ stated that without democracy true modernization would never be achieved. He called for a representative government through elections by the people and the right to replace anyone in power that went against the will of the people. Wei wrote as someone who has been involved with and affected by China’s ever changing political landscapes. He strongly believed that China was capable of escaping its poverty problem and in order to that it needed democracy, as democracy is essential for high levels of production. Wei further wrote that China was being hypocritical by criticizing the West when it had the same problems and that communism has not solved any of these problems because of the lack of freedom.
The Democracy movement also inspired people to take action and protest with thousands of workers who were sent to the countryside showing up in Peking to petition for changes. As predicted, Deng would suppress these demonstrations and movements as Mao did during the Hundred Flowers movement. Those that were arrested were accused of actions akin to treason due to a shift in government policy. Wei was charged with espionage, even though it was not possible for him to commit such an act, and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Deng condemned the Democracy movement and subsequently, journals were shut down and the right to hang wall posters became extremely limited. With the passing of the movement, many writers decided to articulate their thoughts and show the government that the strength of the movement will not completely die out.
Taiwan and the Special Economic Zones
With China opening up to the West, the United States’ diplomatic ties with Taiwan were cut off with China determined to reunify the island and the mainland, even though Taiwan was firm in its belief that its own government represented its people and they were in many ways a fully independent society. By 1979, Taiwan was arguably much more economically able than China, with the help of the United States. A new currency was introduced in Taiwan and the astute controlling of inflation ensured it didn’t depreciate. Various agricultural reforms ensured that grain production was running smoothly as well. Since production was sufficient for domestic needs, Taiwan decided to focus on advanced industrial production for exportation. To ensure a high net export rate, the government restricted imports and stimulated exports by establishing special export processing zones.
The announcement of the U.S. cutting ties with Taiwan stirred the people’s feelings of rejection and anger, which caused anti-U.S. riots emerge along with multiple protests that the government swiftly quelled. The new alliance between China and the U.S. made Taiwan nervous, particularly that it meant Taiwan would no longer have military support from the U.S. However, the U.S. promised that they were still committed to keeping peace with regards to Taiwan and China. None of this had any adverse effects on Taiwan’s economy, in fact, Taiwan was prospering. China knew that in order for there to be any hopes of reunification, they had to catch up to Taiwan’s economic growth. To do this, four special economic zones were set up in Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Shantou and Xiamen. The zones did start to thrive and would potentially be profitable but it came at a great financial cost to the government. And of course, with great potential for profit and gain come the temptation to embezzle and steal as with Wang Shouxin who scammed her way into state property worth 536,000 yuan.
“Truth from Facts”
The center of the government was rife with disagreements as Deng and Hua struggled for power, with Deng eventually emerging victorious. Deng groomed Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to eventually inherit his power. Both Hu and Zhao, although having vastly different backgrounds were both capable men and were appointed to senior positions of power by Deng. With Hua essentially out of the picture, Deng had the responsibility of dissecting Mao’s legacy without giving any substantiation to the Democracy movement or undermining the party’s reputation. Stories of small enterprises flourishing were becoming popular with more and more people reading stories about the common people succeeding in business. In 1980, the Gang of Four and those complicit in the Cultural Revolution finally stood trial with most of them being given hefty prison sentences. The party leaders realized that in order to bring China into the fully modernized world, they needed to look at their own past and learn from it.
(Au: dangofan)
