Deng Xiaoping is restored to leadership and presses for modernization

The UN General Assembly recognized the PRC as the representative of China, expanding the government’s access to international institutions. Diplomatic recognition supported later trade and...

US President Richard Nixon began a visit that helped normalize relations and reduce China’s diplomatic isolation. The opening created conditions for later trade, technology exchange and investment,...

At the Fourth National People’s Congress, Zhou called for modernization in agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology by the end of the century. The agenda anticipated the...

Mao’s death ended the leadership era that had shaped the planned economy, mass campaigns and revolutionary mobilization. Economic policy remained contested: leaders disagreed over whether to...

Hua Guofeng and allies arrested the Gang of Four weeks after Mao’s death. This political shift ended the decade-long campaign and opened the way for rehabilitations and renewed emphasis on...

The State Council approved the return of a unified entrance examination after a decade in which university admissions had relied heavily on political and workplace recommendations. Millions of...

A Guangming Daily editorial argued that policy should be judged by practical results, helping reopen debate about Mao-era decisions and the role of expertise. The intervention was part of a wider...

Eighteen households in Xiaogang, Anhui, signed a secret agreement to divide collective land use among families and link each household’s rewards to output after meeting state obligations. This local...

In a speech preparing the Third Plenum, Deng urged leaders to emancipate thought, seek truth from facts and use economic methods in managing the economy. He argued for changing relations of production...

The Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee moved the Party’s focus from class struggle to socialist modernization and endorsed reform and opening as the new strategic direction. It marked a...