ABSTRACT
Virtually the only consistent factor in Chinese politics since 1949 has been inconsistency. Leadership conflicts at the centre have been manifest in radical policy shifts that have affected the entire Chinese population at alarmingly regular intervals. When Deng Xiaoping took over the reins of power in 1978, there was great hope that China was entering a period of certainty and stability that would facilitate the long march to achieving the Four Modernizations — a policy of deliberately induced evolution. This has not been the case, however. Instead, the reforms implemented in the 1980s gave rise to a plethora of social and economic problems. Unable to dominate events, the party and state elites squabbled over the causes and potential remedies, while intellectuals and students rapidly lost patience with their leaders. The economic retrenchment policies of 1988 and the repression of the democracy movement in 1989 may have stabilized the situation in the short run, but much remains to be resolved before the CCP can face the twenty-first century with any certainty and confidence.
