ABSTRACT
People of my age and experience may share a unique perspective on the prospects
for economic restructuring. Before liberation, I was actively involved in the long-
term revolutionary struggle to destroy the old economic system. Soon after New
China was founded, I worked in leading economic departments and participated
in the creation of the socialist economic system. Over the next few decades,
I witnessed tremendous achievements as well as all kinds of setbacks in the build-
ing of the socialist economy, and I also recognized many drawbacks of the tradi-
tional socialist system that was then in practice. After the Third Plenary Session
of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee in 1978, I was honored, at such an old
age, to participate in the great cause of reform, with emancipated mindset and an
economic outlook that had changed with the times. Before writing this article,
I systematically sorted through my major ideas on the economic restructuring
over the past few years and found them improved quite a bit over many years
earlier. Just as my old economic thoughts could not escape their times, my present
thoughts, including my economic thinking, can hardly go beyond the limitations
of the current times. Therefore, my view on economic restructuring is recorded
here quite frankly and is open to readers’ comments.
