Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China

by Ezra F. Vogel

his interregnum, which lasted from Mao's death in September 1976 until the Third Plenum in December 1978, Hua in fact not only arrested the Gang of Four but abandoned radical Maoism, reduced the roles of ideology and political campaigns, focused on modernization more than class struggle, and regularized the scheduling of party meetings that had been held irregularly under Mao. Hua also sent delegation after delegation abroad to learn about modern technology. He—not Deng—launched China's special economic zones, which experimented with efforts to bring in foreign direct investment. Hua did try to delay Deng's return to office in 1977, but he did not undo the progress that Deng had made in 1975, and he supported the later changes that Deng introduced after returning in 1977. He not only promoted the rapid opening of the country, but even suffered sharp criticism for carrying it too far in his “Western-led Leap Forward” (yang yuejin).2