Deng Xiaoping Launches Reform and Opening Up
December 18, 1978 · 20th Century
On December 18, 1978, at the Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, Deng Xiaoping launched Reform and Opening Up policies. China had a GDP of approximately $150 billion and per capita income of around $190 annually. Deng dismantled agricultural communes, created Special Economic Zones beginning with Shenzhen in 1980, and reformed state enterprises incrementally. China's GDP grew at an average of 9.5% annually from 1978 to 2013, per capita income increased more than 50-fold, and an estimated 800 million people exited extreme poverty. By 2024, China's GDP reached $18.7 trillion.
Key Figures
Deng Xiaoping
Locations
Beijing
Topics
modernizationeconomic reformChinese Communist Partypoverty reduction
Connected Events — 3 Connections
Deng's economic reforms opened China to market forces but not political freedom, creating the tension between economic liberalization and authoritarian control that erupted in the 1989 Tiananmen protests Tiananmen Square Protests Crackdown
Mao's 1949 revolution created the socialist state whose economic failures — the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution — Deng dismantled through market reforms starting in 1978 Proclamation of the People's Republic of China
The Cultural Revolution's devastating economic and social damage created the political mandate for Deng's market reforms — he himself had been purged twice during Mao's campaigns Cultural Revolution Begins in China
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