The Reform Years (1978–The Current Time)

Abstract

After 30 years of reform (1978–2008), many Chinese intellectuals became disillusioned with the country’s reform,1 which is a system of political dictatorship plus market economy.2 China could have achieved a great success in the building of democracy if its leaders (Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao) had that (i.e., democracy) in mind. But from the very beginning, Deng Xiaoping had made it clear that the reform should insist on economic reform on the one hand and political dictatorship (the four cardinal principles) on the other hand. The whole purpose of reform, for Deng Xiaoping, was to rebuild political legitimacy for the Communist governance and consolidate its rule of China—to save the party from the disastrous situation resulting from Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution.3 The four cardinal principles, proposed by Deng Xiaoping in March 1979, were: “first, we must insist on the socialist road; second, we must insist on the proletarian dictatorship; third, we must insist on the Communist Party’s leadership; fourth, we must insist on Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thoughts.”4KeywordsCommunist PartyChinese Communist PartyDictatorial RuleHarmonious SocietyUpward Social MobilityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.