Reforms from 1978

Reforms from The Cultural Revolution was followed by a process of political manoeuvring. Deng Xiaoping kept party control strong while introducing a socialist market economy. In , the Party declared its goal as the Four Modernisations (to develop science, industry, agriculture, defence). Debate was allowed as long as the Party was not questioned. In this new and liberating climate, as at the time of the May Fourth movement years earlier, there was an exciting explosion of new ideas. On December , a wall-poster, ‘The Fifth Modernisation’ proclaimed that without Democracy the other modernisations would come to nothing. It went on to criticise the CCP for not solving the problem of poverty or ending sexual exploitation, even citing cases of such abuse from within the Party. P ATHS TO M ODERNISATION T HEMES IN W ORLD H ISTORY These demands were suppressed, but in on the seventieth anniversary of the May Fourth movement many intellectuals called for a greater openness and an end to ‘ossified dogmas’ ( su shaozhi ). Student demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in Beijing were brutally repressed. This was strongly condemned around the world. The post-reform period has seen the emergence of debates on ways to develop China. The dominant view supported by the Party is based on strong political control, economic liberalisation and integration into the world market. Critics argue that increasing inequalities between social groups, between regions and between men and women are creating social tensions, and question the heavy emphasis on the market. Finally, there is a growing revival of earlier so-called ‘traditional’ ideas, of Confucianism and arguments that China can build a modern society following its own traditions rather than simply copying the West.