ABSTRACT
The Third Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) Eleventh Central Committee in 1978 was an important milestone in the develop ment of the Chinese economy. The introduction of the household contract system in the countryside loosened the grip of the planned economy. Then the reforms were extended to the urban areas and the regime had to use complex market instruments, combined with adminis trative measures, to carry out overall economic guidance. The market ization process has inevitably experienced ups and downs, but steady progress has been made in general.
