School of Economics and Management, Tongji University

Recently, Shi Jianxun, a professor in the Department of Economics and Finance of our school, published an article in Guangming Daily to discuss the great journey of reform and opening-up and socialist modernization. The following is the original article published.

From December 18 to December 22, 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC (hereinafter referred to as the Plenary Session) was held in Beijing at a historic juncture when the Party and the state decide what course to follow. At that time, the world economy was developing rapidly, and science and technology were advancing rapidly. However, the decade-long civil strife in the “Cultural Revolution” led China’s economy to the verge of collapse, people were in desperate need of food and clothing, and all trades were starting from scratch for development. There was a strong demand from both inside and outside the Party to correct the mistakes of the “Cultural Revolution” and to make the Party and the nation rise up again.

In light of the developments and changes at home and abroad, and in response to the trend of times and the wishes of the people, the Plenary Session promptly and decisively made a historic decision of shifting the work focus of the Party and the state to economic construction and implementing the reform and opening-up, ushering in a new era of reform, opening-up and economic development in China. Since then, from rural reform to urban reform, from pilot reform to step-by-step promotion, from economic system reform to political system reform and further to comprehensive deepening reform, from establishing special economic zones to opening up sea-shore and river-shore areas and even building free trade zones, the reform has greatly liberated and developed productive forces, and the opening-up has broadened space for national development. As a result, China has seen economy growing continuously and rapidly, as well as constant historic breakthroughs in economic and social development.

The economic aggregate has been growing rapidly. In the 42 years from 1978 to 2020, China’s economic aggregate expanded nearly 100 times, creating a miracle of economic development in human history. According to the average annual exchange rate currently, China’s GDP reached about USD 14.7 trillion in 2020, ranking second in the world, and accounting for about 17% of the world economy.

People’s lives have improved significantly. More than 700 million poor people have been lifted out of poverty. We have won the battle against poverty in an all-around way, and we have made decisive progress in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Sustained growth has been achieved in terms of the per capita disposable incomes of both urban residents and rural residents. A multi-layered social security system covering the entire population has been basically established, the level of security has been continuously improved, and the participation by the entire population in social security has been basically realized. The average life expectancy increased from 65.9 years in 1978 to 77.3 years in 2020.

The comprehensive national strength continued to grow. In 2020, the total grain output reached a record high and continued to rank first in the world. The output of more than 220 kinds of industrial products ranked first in the world, and the added value of manufacturing industry ranked first in the world for 11 consecutive years. Infrastructure continued to improve, the total operating mileage of high-speed railways, the total mileage of expressways and the number of 5G terminal connections ranked first in the world. Scientific and technological strength continued to improve, major scientific and technological achievements constantly emerged, and social productivity reached a new level.

The most striking feature of the new era ushered in by the Plenary Session is that the reform and opening-up has comprehensively changed the incompatibility between relations of production and productive forces. Social productive forces have been greatly liberated, social wealth has increased rapidly, and people’s lives have been gradually improved. Since the major decision of reform and opening-up was adopted at the Plenary Session, China has achieved a great historical turning point from a highly centralized planned economic system to a dynamic socialist market economic system, and from closed and semi-closed economy to all-around opening-up. Historic changes have taken place in the images of the Chinese people, socialist China and the Communist Party of China. A socialist China oriented towards modernization, the world and the future stands firm in the east of the world. Today, China is more closely connected with the world economy, and we are closer to and more confident and capable of achieving the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than ever before.

Looking back at this important conference held 42 years ago, we can find that the reform and opening-up was initiated by major theoretical innovations and conceptual breakthroughs. Since then, we have been constantly summing up experience and lessons in practice, seeking truth from facts, and realized the mutual promotion of innovations in both theoretical and practical aspects. The Chinese Communists and the Chinese people have embarked on a new great journey of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, creating and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics with indomitable enterprising spirit and tremendous innovative practice. Comrade Deng Xiaoping, starting from the current stage of China’s socialist development, put forward the scientific conclusion that “planned economy is not equal to socialism, and there are also plans in a capitalist society; market economy is not equal to capitalism, and there are also markets in a socialist society”, which broke the traditional thought that imprisons people’s mind, and provided the ideological basis for correctly understanding and dealing with the relationship between planning and market. It is an important ideological source of socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. The 14th CPC National Congress confirmed that the socialist market economic system is the goal of China’s economic system reform. The combination of socialism and market economy has laid a solid institutional foundation for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The great practice of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics has offered new ideas for the theoretical innovation of Chinese economics. We have made important theoretical innovations in such fields as the market economy, ownership relations, resource allocation mode, macro-control mode, income distribution and opening-up. While guiding the reform and opening-up as well as modernization drive to achieve the expected goals and making historic strides in economic and social development, we have constantly enriched and developed Marxist political economy.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core has been adhering to observing the general trend, planning for the overall situation and doing practical work, judged the economic situation scientifically, made correct decisions on economic work, and successfully controlled the overall situation of China’s economic development. In practice, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, with the new development concept as its main content, has been formed. It is the theoretical crystallization of the practice of promoting China’s economic development as well as the latest achievement of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics. Moreover, it provides a fundamental guideline for finding a foothold in the new stage of development, implementing the new development philosophy, building a new pattern of development and embarking on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects.

Originally published in Guangming Daily on March 24, 2021