Cultural Revolution Aftermath &

Early Years of the Period of Reform (ca. 1976-82)

POLITICAL CHANGE

Thinking Generation or The Returned Youth (after 1978): the generation of Red Guards and other Chinese youth who were xia fang or "sent down to the countryside" by Mao to learn from China's masses. This group would later receive these nicknames in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution's mass dislocation.

Qingming "Tomb Sweeping" Holiday: the holiday on the Chinese lunar calendar for tidying up and paying one's respects to the tombs of familial ancestors. On April 4, 1976, thousands of people gathered at Tiananmen Square to mourn Zhou’s death, and to protest the excesses of the CR. This group soon came to blows with security forces.

Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997): Chinese communist leader who would become best known for "opening" the People's Republic of China to the West in the late 1970s and for leading the country's reform program until his death in 1997.

Jiang Qing (ca. 1914-1991): Mao's third wife and the most powerful woman in the People's Republic of China until her downfall in 1976, after Mao's death. As a member of the Gang of Four (Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan, Zhang Chunqiao, and Wang Hongwen) she was convicted in 1981 of "counter-revolutionary crimes" and imprisoned.

Tangshan (Hebei Province): the site of the worst recorded earthquake in China’s history on July 28, 1976 with an estimated 655,000 dead and 779,000 injured.

Hua Guofeng (b. 1921): loyal Maoist and the Chairman's supposed heir, who became entangled in a struggle between the Gang of Four and Deng Xiaoping's supporters.

"The Four Modernizations": Deng Xiaoping's earliest pragmatic reform program that called for the Modernizations of agriculture, industry, the sciences, and national defense. This program was closely linked to Deng's favorite maxim, "it doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as he catches mice, he's a good cat."

Wei Jingsheng (b. 1949): the young electrician, who helped launch The Democracy Wall Movement (1979-81) with public debates of China's future. Wei introduced to the suggestion that Deng include "The Fifth Modernization" namely, Democracy. For this suggestion, Wei was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor and solitary confinement. Wei was released in 1990 to aid in Beijing’s bid for the 2000 Olympics. When China’s bid was defeated, Wei was thrown back into prison. Wei was finally freed in 1998, and immediately sent to the US for medical treatment. He now lives in New York.

ECONOMIC CHANGE

Open Door Policy: Foreign companies were invited back, and joint-venture companies were enthusiastically set up. Special Economic Zones were established in coastal areas to present nearly tariff-free sectors for foreign investment and development. Such reforms did not follow a master plan. Instead, Deng himself noted that the policy followed was Mo shi or "(making one’s way) by feeling the stones (in a stream)."

Agricultural Responsibility System: Peasants were assigned land on a contractual basis, with surplus production being sold on the open market. Farmers could also now take out long-term "leases" on land, verging on outright ownership. Private businesses and "10,000 yuan households" were celebrated in the press. The slogan "to get rich is glorious" was attributed to Deng Xiaoping. Everyone sought to obtain the "Eight Bigs," i.e. a television, a refrigerator, a stereo, a camera, a motorcycle, a set of furniture, a washing machine, and an electric fan.