ABSTRACT
It was at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, which began 18 December 1978, that the reform and opening up (gaige kaifeng) programme was formally introduced. Included in the Session’s communique was the following:
While we have achieved political stability and unity and are restoring and adhering to the economic policies that proved effective over a long time, we are now, in the light of the new historical conditions and practical experience, adopting a number of major new economic measures, conscientiously transforming the system and methods of economic management, actively expanding economic co-operation on terms of quality and mutual benefit with other countries on the basis of self-reliance, striving to adopt the world’s advanced technologies and equipment and greatly strengthening scientific and educational work to meet the needs of modernization.1
