After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) began to focus on developing the economy.
But China’s economy faced many difficulties and development was slow for a time, until the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in December 1978.
At this meeting, the CPC reestablished the ideological guiding principle of “emancipating the mind” and “seeking truth from facts”. A new leadership of the CPC Central Committee was formed, with Deng Xiaoping at its core.
The meeting also made a strategic decision to begin a nationwide economic reform and to carry out the “opening-up” policy.
In 1980s, China started to shake off the shackles of the old planned economy and embrace the new strategy which later developed into a market-oriented economy.
In 1992, Deng made a historic visit to southern regions. The visit is symbolic in China’s economic history as Deng used it to push forward the reform to a market economy.
Since then, China has managed to grow into a major economic power, with an average annual growth rate of more than 9 percent over the past 30 years, the fastest and most sustained rate of all the major economies.
Looking back on history, it was the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee which helped set the Party’s guiding principles and bring Chinese society back to order. It was a great turning point in the history of the CPC.21st
Market economy
Countries including the US, Japan and many European Union members haven’t yet recognized China’s market economy status (MES). They often impose anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on Chinese exports.
During bilateral talks with these countries, China has made great efforts to push for MES. According to WTO rules, China will automatically acquire MES 15 years after entering the organization. So China would get that status by 2016 at the latest.