It was not until the re-emergence of Deng Xiaoping in 1977 did China turn onto the path of recovery. Mao’s successor, Hua Guofeng, remained focused on industrialization and Deng continued with the Four Modernizations; agriculture, industry, technology, and science. Starting with agriculture, Deng reintroduced the capitalist idea of incentives. Communes were dismantled and farmers were allowed to hire workers to work on individual plots. There was less government intervention and more freedom to the farmers as they were able to sell their crops on the local market like they did before the revolution. A “responsibility system” was introduced which allowed farmers to sell their crops if they met the quota they had to provide to the state. This proved to be very successful as data shows that wheat production more than doubled from fourty-one million tons in 1978 to eighty-seven tons in 1985.1 The agricultural output continued to improve as in 1987, grain output had tripled India’s and almost leveled with the U.S. and Russia. The improvements in agriculture had a positive impact on the economy and income rose from a mere one-hundred Yuan in 1971 to nine-thousand Yuan in 1986. Deng proved that incentives were the driving forces of production and was slowly transforming China into one of the leading trading forces.
While the Industrial Revolution had long finished, Deng needed to revolutionize the industrial sector to further develop China economically. Similar to production in agriculture, Deng introduced incentives for factories to increase productivity. Another responsibility system came into place and non-state owned factories were able to sell their surplus if they met their set quota. The most attention was drawn to steel, coal, iron, and oil production. This was the goal of the Ten Year Plan which was introduced in 1978. It included 120 projects at an investment of fifty-four million Yuan and each sector such as iron and steel complexes had specific objectives to reach at the end of the plan in 1985. For steel, the aim was to produce sixty-million tons by 1985.2 However, the project was deemed as over ambitious and was revised to more achievable goals. It still proved successful as steel production rose from twenty-one million tones in 1976 to fifty-million tons in 1986.3
The modernization of the military and science/technology were closely linked as the Chinese military were definitely behind on modern warfare weaponry which rendered their army almost useless compared to the United States’ army. Also, the Cultural Revolution not only stopped access to universities but destroyed many of them. Deng quickly restored scientific research institutes and academies and held conferences to further develop new research centers across the country. Almost ten percent of the country’s GDP was being spent on military development. The People’s Liberation Army lacked in weapon technology which is why researchers traveled abroad to the U.S. during the 1980’s to observe top of the line military equipment.4
Even though China’s military were approximately fifteen years behind the leading industrial countries, Deng’s restoration of research institutes promised the long-term development of military weapons. Deng Xiaoping’s four modernizations were successful to some extent and definitely achieved what Mao envisioned in the Great Leap forward but with the use of capitalism to add incentives to production. Even though the sectors of science and the military were still lagging, Deng’s revolutionary change in agriculture and industry set the country on the path of economic prosperity. With a strong economy, modernization in all sectors can be easily achieved with the use of funding.
Work Cited Page
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Hays, Jeffrey. “Agriculture in China under Mao and Deng Xiaoping”. Facts and Details. April. 2010. Web. < >
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Watkins, Thayer. “Economic Development in China after Mao”. San Jose State University. 1983. Web. < >
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Author N/A. “China-Iron and Steel”. Mongaybay. 2010. Web. < >
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Author N/A. “Modernization of the People’s Liberation Army”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 May 2012. Web. < >
by
ibstefan (student)
