Post-Midterm Terms

The Four Modernizations

WHAT: A program to modernize agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. WHEN: Presented by Zhou Enlai in 1964 and renewed under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. SIGNIFICANCE: Promoted economic development, higher incomes, and new opportunities, while also contributing to inflation and social tensions.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

WHAT: Designated areas with special trade and tax privileges designed to attract investment and encourage economic growth. WHEN: The first four—Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen—were established in 1980. SIGNIFICANCE: Attracted foreign investment and manufacturing, connected China to international markets, and provided opportunities to experiment with economic reform; also created opportunities for corruption.

Democracy Wall

WHAT: A pro-democracy protest movement associated with Wei Jingsheng and demands for political openness. WHEN: 1978–1979. SIGNIFICANCE: Expressed demands for political reform that resurfaced in 1989. Deng Xiaoping also used the protests to strengthen his position against Hua Guofeng.

The Household Responsibility System

WHAT: Households contracted to farm collectively owned land, fulfilled required production obligations, and retained or sold the remaining output. Land remained collectively owned. WHEN: Experiments began in 1978; dominant by 1983. SIGNIFICANCE: Strengthened farmers’ production incentives, increased agricultural productivity, and helped supply savings and labor for industrialization.

TVEs (Township and Village Enterprises)

WHAT: Rural enterprises controlled by township or village governments. WHEN: Especially important during 1979–1993 and into the mid-1990s; many were privatized in the late 1990s. SIGNIFICANCE: Drove rural industrialization, employment, and growth. Local-government ownership offered protection when private property rights were insecure, while profits funded reinvestment and local services.

The Dual-Track System

WHAT: State planning and market exchange operated together: producers fulfilled fixed obligations at planned prices, then sold additional output at market prices. WHEN: Associated with the 1980s; material-balance planning was abolished by the end of 1993. SIGNIFICANCE: Introduced market incentives while protecting existing benefits under the plan, reducing opposition to reform—“reform without losers.”

Playing to the Provinces

WHAT: A strategy of giving provincial governments greater economic authority and financial incentives to build their support for reform. WHEN: Deng-era reforms in the 1980s; provincial revenue-sharing changes began in 1980. SIGNIFICANCE: Built a political coalition supporting reform and encouraged local governments to promote economic development.

Fang-Shou Cycle

WHAT: A recurring pattern of opening or loosening control (fang), followed by closing or tightening control (shou). WHEN: Associated with the post-1978 reform era, especially the 1980s. SIGNIFICANCE: Explains why periods of economic and political liberalization were followed by renewed restrictions, ideological campaigns, and repression.

Hu Yaobang

WHO: Reformist CCP leader and former general secretary who supported rehabilitating people persecuted during earlier political campaigns. WHEN: 1915–1989; removed in January 1987; died April 15, 1989. SIGNIFICANCE: His removal demonstrated the limits imposed on reformist leaders. His death sparked mourning demonstrations that developed into the 1989 Tiananmen protest movement.

Zhao Ziyang

WHO: Reformist premier who became CCP general secretary and advocated market reforms and greater separation of Party leadership from government and industrial administration. WHEN: 1919–2005; succeeded Hu Yaobang in 1987 and was removed in 1989. SIGNIFICANCE: Opposed using military force to clear Tiananmen Square. His removal weakened reformists and strengthened leaders who suppressed the protests and restricted political reform.

Nomenclatura (Nomenklatura)

WHAT: The CCP’s system of important positions, approved candidates, and appointment and dismissal procedures, allowing Party control over institutional leadership. WHEN: Operating in the PRC by the 1950s; in August 1984, appointment authority generally shifted from two ranks below to one rank below. SIGNIFICANCE: Preserved Party control over government, enterprises, universities, hospitals, and other institutions by controlling their leaders and career advancement.