ABSTRACT
When I accepted Marxist ideology in my youth, the relations between the state and society had theoretical importance, and they constituted important issues. Thus, ever since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleven Central Committee of the Party gave me back my job, I have been thinking about this issue. As for the essential task that history has assigned, the twenty years of reform in China may be summarized as the process of reverting from state domination to society; that is, reverting from a situation in which the government dominated everything, to a situation of respect for civil life and the normal functions of society. Why is Chinese reform a process of reverting from the situation of state domination to a situation of normal social functioning?
