Reform Approach and Framework

Mao’s demise in 1976 marked the most significant turning point in China’s economic history. The tumultuous decade of the “Cultural Revolution” (1966–1976) also formally came to an end. The transitional period between 1976 and the inception of reform in 1979 was headed by Mao’s designated successor Hua Guofeng. A politically unknown figure till his nomination by Mao to succeed him, Hua attempted to win popular support by pledging to follow in the footsteps of Mao while concurrently promising rapid economic recovery and growth. In 1977, he criticized the Central Planning Commission’s (CPC) conservative estimates for the economy’s growth rates. Later that same year, the CPC submitted its revised draft of the 10-year Development Plan, 1975–1985, to the CCP’s Politburo. Echoing Mao and the late Premier Zhou Enlai’s repeated call for creative resourcefulness in macroeconomic designs, the draft Plan’s objective was that by the end of the twentieth century, there would be comprehensive modernization of China’s agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology, propelling China’s economy to the forefront of world economies. It was within the framework of such an ambitious target that the draft plan was presented to the CCP’s Politburo. Among others, the proposal called for a 40.6 percent increase in food production between 1975 and 1985, a 151.0 percent increase in steel production and a 224.6 percent rise in crude oil production during the same period.