Deng Xiaoping Comes to Power and Leads Reform and Opening-Up
In late 1978, Deng Xiaoping came to power, establishing a departure from Mao Zedong's line and initiating reform and opening-up.
In late 1978, Deng Xiaoping came to power, establishing a departure from Mao Zedong's line and initiating reform and opening-up.
By emphasizing that "practice is the sole criterion for testing truth," Deng Xiaoping defeated Hua Guofeng and established a governing philosophy centered on economic development.
On May 11, 1978, Guangming Daily published “Practice Is the Sole Criterion for Testing Truth,” sparking the great debate on the criterion of truth centered on “practice is the sole criterion for testing truth” and the “Two Whatevers,” which became an important controversy in the Chinese Communist Party’s shift in line.
Han Xiu, a Chinese-language writer holding U.S. citizenship who had remained in China for about 30 years, returned to the United States in January 1978; she claimed to be the first among U.S. citizens who had remained in mainland China after 1949 to return to the United States, and she received assistance from the State Department.
Han Xiu said that after she returned to the United States, President Carter instructed the State Department to send a strong notice to the Chinese government, pointing out that it had denied more than a hundred times during the Warsaw talks that American citizens were stranded in China, and insisting that American citizens be returned before talks on establishing diplomatic relations.
In 1978, after missile expert Song Jian went abroad for exchanges, he and Tian Xueyuan and others used mathematical models to calculate, claiming that if China did not control its population, it would reach 4.264 billion by 2080; Tian Xueyuan also proposed that China's population ceiling should be 650 million to 700 million, providing a basis for family planning.
In 1978, Hu Yaobang presided over nationwide rehabilitation, and Zhu Rongji had his Party membership restored in this process. He was then transferred to work at the Institute of Industrial Economics by his former superior Ma Hong, who had been appointed director of the institute.