ABSTRACT
The economic system of China has already undergone many partial and experimental modifications since the Chinese political leadership proclaimed the "Four Modernizations" in 1978. The decision on "Economic Reform" adopted by the Central Committee plenary meeting of the Communist party of China on October 20, 1984, was a milestone on the way to far-reaching economic and structural reforms. The resolution on economic reform published on October 20, 1984, was the first attempt to provide a theoretical generalization of the reform measures introduced on an experimental basis since 1978. Resource allocation is one aspect of the well-known problem of "plan and market." The relative weight of "plan" and "market," as well as the type of plan, varies in accordance with the kind of resource being allocated; the same is true of price-formation methods and the types of prices. Until the term decentralization has been understood to mean the delegation of central power to local authorities.
