The Great Reform and Opening-Up

The Great Reform and Opening-Up

The Process of Reform and Opening-Up

After the end of the "Cultural Revolution," at a critical historical juncture where the Party and the country faced significant decisions on their future direction, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held in December 1978, re-established the Marxist ideological, political, and organizational lines. This marked a strategic shift in the focus of the Party and the country's work, ushering in a new era of reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization. It was a turning point of profound significance in the history of the Party since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Following the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, breakthroughs were first achieved in rural reforms, with the implementation of the household responsibility system in agriculture and the rapid development of township and village enterprises. In 1984, the Third Plenary Session of the 12th Central Committee marked a shift in the focus of reforms from rural to urban areas, making significant progress in enterprise reforms.

In 1980, the Party and the state approved the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen. In 1984, 14 coastal port cities, including Dalian and Qingdao, were opened. Hainan Province was established in 1988, creating the Hainan Special Economic Zone. In 1990, Shanghai's Pudong area was opened for development. In 1992, five cities along the Yangtze River were opened. Subsequently, 17 inland provincial capital cities were opened, along with a series of border cities from Northeast to Northwest and Southwest China, forming a comprehensive, multi-level, and wide-ranging pattern of opening-up to the outside world.

Marked by Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour Talks in 1992 and the 14th National Congress of the CPC, which clarified the goal of establishing a socialist market economy, reform and opening-up, as well as socialist modernization, entered a new phase. The Third Plenary Session of the 14th Central Committee in 1993 made arrangements for establishing a socialist market economy. Thereafter, the focus of reforms centered around establishing and improving the socialist market economy. In 2001, China successfully joined the World Trade Organization, marking a new stage in its opening-up process. The Third Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee in 2003 made arrangements for improving the socialist market economy.

In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee made important arrangements for comprehensively deepening reform, proposing that the market should play a decisive role in resource allocation while better utilizing the role of the government. Significant breakthroughs were achieved in comprehensively deepening reform. The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was established in 2013. In 2017, the 19th National Congress of the CPC proposed forming a new pattern of comprehensive opening-up. The Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee in 2018 made arrangements for deepening the reform of Party and state institutions. In 2019, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee conducted a special study on adhering to and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. In 2020, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee reviewed and approved the "Proposals for Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Goals for 2035." In 2021, the "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Goals for 2035" made arrangements for comprehensively deepening reform and pursuing high-level opening-up. This pushed reform and opening-up further into depth, leading to historic and great achievements in economic and social development.

The Significance of Reform and Opening-Up

Since 1978, China has advanced comprehensive reforms and deepened its opening-up. Reform and opening-up have profoundly changed the face of China, the Chinese nation, the Chinese people, and the CPC. The Chinese nation has experienced a great leap from standing up, becoming prosperous, to growing strong. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has seen a great leap from its establishment to development and perfection. The Chinese people have experienced a great leap from having inadequate food and clothing to becoming well-off. The Chinese nation is now standing tall in the East with a brand-new posture.

Practice has fully proven that reform and opening-up are the key strategies for the Party and the people to make great strides in catching up with the times. It is the only path to adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, the key to determining the fate of contemporary China, and the crucial move for realizing the "Two Centenary Goals" and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The development of practice never ends, the liberation of thought never ends, and reform and opening-up never end. There is no way forward in stagnation or retreat. Opening-up to the outside world is a fundamental national policy of China. The world today is an open world, openness brings progress, and closure inevitably leads to backwardness. Reform and opening-up are processes that are ongoing and never completed.