Third Plenum adopts the Decision on Economic System Reform

The new Constitution declared a planned economy while allowing individual and private economic activity within defined limits. This constitutional settlement captured the early reform compromise:...

A central decision initiated the conversion of communes into township governments and village-level economic organizations. It separated administration from production and expanded household...

Deng visited Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen, signaling political backing for the SEZ experiments. The visits helped make the coast a showcase for reform and foreign investment; the image of successful...

The State Council designated 14 coastal port cities for broader foreign trade and investment. The policy extended preferential opening beyond the original SEZs and deepened links to East Asian...

Following the 1984 decision, state firms gained greater discretion over output, investment, hiring and retained profits, while remaining publicly owned. The move sought productivity and fiscal...

Rural industry grew rapidly under local collective and township arrangements, absorbing labor and using household savings and local state support. TVEs offered an alternative to migration into...

The state retained planned prices and quotas while allowing above-quota output and some inputs to trade at negotiated or market prices. This gradual approach avoided a single shock to state allocation...

The central government opened the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and southern Fujian triangle as economic zones. This widened access to foreign capital and technology while channeling...

Agricultural procurement was reorganized so that more products could be traded through negotiated contracts and markets. Farmers gained more choice and price responsiveness, while grain and...

Urban reforms increasingly linked pay and staffing to enterprise performance, replacing parts of the job assignment system with contracts and bonuses. They aimed to improve incentives but began to...