THE ERA OF RECONSTRUCTION HI 168: Lecture 15 Dr. Howard Chiang

OVERVIEW -Trial of the Gang of Four -Return of Deng Xiaoping -Third Plenum and Economic Reform -Special Economic Zones -The Impact of Reforms -Consolidating the Deng Era

TRIA OF THE GANG OF 4 -Oct. 6, 1976: a group of senior members of Politburo (including Hua Guofeng) ordered the arrest of the Gang of 4 -‘With you in charge, I’m at east’ – Mao -Gang of 4 charged with: 1.Framed and persecuted party and state leaders and plotted to overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat. 2.Persecuted, killed, and tortured more than 34,000 officials and ordinary people. 3.Planned an armed coup in Shanghai after the death of Mao. 4.Planned to assassinate Mao and organized an armed counter-revolutionary coup.

TRIAL OF THE GANG OF 4 -Verdict reached on Jan. 25, 1981: - Jiang Qing and Zhang Chuniqao were sentenced to death with a 2-year reprieve - others received long prison sentences -But: Why did hundreds of millions of Chinese permit themselves to be so led astray into such disastrous policies by a mere handful of plotters?

“Gang of Four” on Trial

RETURN OF DENG XIAOPING -Hua Guofeng: would ‘support whatever policy decisions were made by Mao’ and ‘follow whatever instructions by Mao” -Mid-1977: Deng was reappointed to his old governmental positions -1978: reassessment of the 1976 Tiananmen Square Incident -Aug. 1977: Deng was nominated as a vice-chairman of the Party -Dec. 1978: Hua’s exit, Deng’s triumph

Gerald and Betty Ford meet with Deng Xiaoping (1975)

Veteran of long march Veteran of long march Studied in France Studied in France Had endured multiple persecutions since the 1950s Had endured multiple persecutions since the 1950s Assumes power at the expense of Hua Guofeng Assumes power at the expense of Hua Guofeng

THIRD PLENUM -Deng’s policies: economic reform + political authoritarianism -Dec , 1978: Central Committee: - how to correct imbalances in the economy and reform the over-centralized economic management of the country; the development of economic cooperation with the advanced economies of the world; improvement in science and education to support modernization; and, last but not least, the reform of the agricultural economy -“Four Modernizations”: agriculture, industry, national defense, and science & technology

ECONOMIC REFORM -Responsibility system: - complete dismantling of the system of People’s Communes - return of collectivized land to farming families – 98% of farm households -Market model: allowing the production and distribution of goods to be determined by the market, rather than by central government planners -Floating population: farmers travelled to urban centers ( million by the mid-1980s)

SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES -Normalization of China-US and Sino- Japanese relations in the 1970s-80s - Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship (August 12, 1978) -1979: 4 special economic zones (SEZs) - Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen - 14 more added in foreigners:low tax rates, transportation, industrial plants, cheap labor force

IMPACT OF REFORMS to 1997, the gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annual average rate of 11% -Income inequality -Unemployment -Environmental crises -Population problem - one-child-per-family policy (except among ethnic minorities)

CONSOLIDATING THE DENG ERA -Dealing with Mao’s legacy - 70% good + 30% bad -Deng refused to take the title of Chairman -Consolidation of reformers’ dominance over the Party -No political reforms…