China’s reform and opening up follows the logic of gradual development, which is determined by the nature of reform and opening up. China’s reform is China’s "second revolution". On the one hand, China’s reform is the self-improvement and development of the socialist system, which is different from the radical reform road of drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and has stability and gradualism; On the other hand, China’s reform is a fundamental change to the original system. It is not a simple repair to the old system, but innovative and developmental.
Constraints of progressive development
China’s choice of gradual development path in reform and opening up depends on a series of preconditions and constraints created by cultural traditions, historical conditions and realistic national conditions. In terms of cultural traditions, some characteristics of China’s historical and cultural traditions are important constraints for the gradual development logic of reform and opening up. The first is the cultural psychology of pragmatism. The traditional Confucian culture in China emphasizes "practical rationality", attaches importance to practical practice and rejects abstract speculation. China’s gradual development path emphasizes bold attempts and "crossing the river by feeling the stones", which are highly compatible with pragmatic cultural psychology. The second is the values of familism. China’s traditional culture emphasizes the collective values with the family as the basic unit, and the social structural characteristics of "blood-land integration and isomorphism of family and country", which forms a strong social cohesion and produces collectivism values, which are the supporting conditions for gradual reform. For example, the household contract responsibility system implemented at the beginning of rural reform is a new form of traditional familism.
In terms of historical conditions, the logic of the gradual development of China’s reform and opening up is closely related to the historical conditions at the beginning of the reform and opening up. In modern times, under the historical background of internal troubles and foreign invasion, the Chinese nation has faced two major historical tasks: one is to seek national independence and people’s liberation; The second is to achieve national prosperity and common prosperity for the people. The core mission of the two tasks is to realize modernization. Since the mid-1950s, China has gradually formed a highly centralized planned economy system, which is a mandatory institutional arrangement for the rapid completion of industrialization, especially the catch-up development of heavy industries with national defense significance, under the above constraints, and its historical role cannot be underestimated. The gradual or radical path of social change depends largely on people’s value judgment of the original system. At the beginning of reform and opening up, the prestige of the party and the government was not fundamentally destroyed, and there was no serious political crisis like that in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. On the economic level, the macro-economy is relatively stable and the economic development momentum is good. The national income growth rate was 7.8% in 1977 and 12.3% in 1978, and there was no economic collapse like that in the countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Although people have resistance to some aspects of the traditional system, they do not completely deny it, which is the historical constraint of gradual reform.
In terms of basic national conditions, the basic national conditions at the beginning of reform and opening up are also the initial conditions for the logic of gradual development. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the level of social productivity in China was low, the degree of socialization and marketization of production was low, and various economic forms coexisted. This development of productive forces determines that market-oriented reform cannot be achieved in one step. At the beginning of the reform and opening-up, the economic and social development of China was obviously unbalanced. The dual structure of urban and rural areas, unbalanced regional development and unbalanced industrial structure determine that the demand for reform and the speed of change are different between urban and rural areas, between regions and between different industries, which is the realistic condition for the gradual development of reform. For example, before the reform, 80% of China’s population lived in rural areas, with a small land and a large population and a heavy burden. The countryside is the weak link of the old system, and farmers are the beneficiaries of the old system. These national conditions make rural reform the initial starting point and the first driving force of China’s reform.
The inherent logic of gradual development
The success of the gradual development of China’s reform and opening-up lies in that it embarks from the reality of China, abides by a series of constraints, and creatively explores the following key links, systematically showing the inherent logic of gradual development.
Correctly handle the relationship between the theory and practice of reform. The relationship between theory and practice is an important issue in the development of human history. Dogmatism and empiricism both originate from the improper handling of their relationship. Marxism holds that practice is the basis of understanding, and only through practice can people form a correct understanding and guide people’s practical activities with this understanding. Comrade Deng Xiaoping said that China’s reform and opening-up cause "is a new cause, which Marx did not talk about, our predecessors did not do, and other socialist countries did not do, so there is no ready-made experience to learn. We can only learn by doing and explore in practice. " This thought contains an important proposition of progressive development logic. First, no arguments. People’s consensus on reform cannot be achieved through argument, and new understanding of reform comes from new practice of reform. Without arguing, we can avoid ideological entanglements and unify our understanding in practice. Second, try boldly. It is impossible to design a perfect blueprint in advance for reform and opening up, and we must have a pioneering spirit. "Dare to try" can stimulate people’s initiative and creativity and promote the exploration and development of reform. Third, test first, then popularize. The imbalance of economic and social development in China makes it difficult for the reform to go hand in hand with the unified plan. For example, China’s opening to the outside world typically embodies the characteristics of pilot first, point-to-point and comprehensive promotion in terms of spatial scope. In the early 1980s, Shenzhen and other four special economic zones were established.In the mid-1980s, Tianjin and other 14 coastal cities were opened. In the 1990 s, the strategy of opening up along the river and along the border was put forward; Since the new century, various free trade zones have been established successively, including Shanghai Free Trade Zone in 2013, Tianjin Free Trade Zone, Guangdong Free Trade Zone and Fujian Free Trade Zone in 2015 and Hainan Island Free Trade Zone in 2018.
Correctly handle the relationship between incremental reform and stock reform. The gradual development logic of China’s reform and opening up is embodied in the incremental reform first, and then the incremental reform drives the stock reform. That is, taking the incremental reform outside the system as a breakthrough to promote the stock reform within the system. This kind of gradual reform, which is incremental first and then stock, has the nature of "Pareto improvement", that is, some people get benefits, while others’ interests are not obviously damaged, so as to reduce the resistance to improvement. At the beginning of the reform, we did not fundamentally touch the state-owned economy within the system, but mainly devoted ourselves to incremental reform outside the system, allowing and encouraging the development of non-state-owned economy outside the system. With the deepening of reform, the non-state-owned economy outside the system has gradually grown, and the state-owned economy within the system has increasingly felt the pressure of external competition, and the reform has formed a reverse mechanism, thus promoting the stock reform within the system. This kind of moderate and gradual reform has avoided the violent conflicts within and outside the system, achieved the development results at a small cost, and avoided the serious consequences of "shock therapy" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
We emphasize incremental reform first, but we cannot underestimate the significance of stock reform. It should be noted that without the positive progress of stock reform, there will be no overall effect of China’s reform. First of all, after years of reform and development, the public ownership economy within the system has widely introduced market mechanisms in production, distribution and exchange, and the degree of marketization has made a qualitative leap. Secondly, the state-owned economy in the system bears a lot of social costs in the economic and social reform. In the infrastructure fields such as energy, transportation and communication, the investment is large and the recovery period is long. The value created in these fields is widely projected to all sectors of the national economy, including the non-state-owned economy outside the system. Without the input of state-owned economy, these fields cannot be sustained by market allocation alone. In addition, in the fields of education, employment, medical care, old-age care and other social undertakings, the state-owned economy has also undertaken considerable social responsibility and investment.
Correctly handle the relationship between economic reform and political reform. How to deal with the relationship between economic reform and political reform is a major issue of reform. Historical materialism holds that the economic base determines the superstructure, and the superstructure reacts on the economic base. China’s gradual reform requires close cooperation and coordinated promotion of economic reform and political reform: on the one hand, economy is the foundation, and economic system reform must occupy a leading position; On the other hand, the political superstructure reacts on the economic base, and the political system reform must be promoted in a timely manner. Some people mistakenly believe that the achievements of China’s reform and opening-up are mainly reflected in the economic field, while the reform in the political field is lagging behind. This view is not in line with historical facts. China’s political reform has been continuously explored and promoted in an orderly manner. In 1980, in view of the profound lessons in the "Cultural Revolution", Deng Xiaoping put forward the requirements for the reform of the party and state leadership system; In 1986, after the concept of socialist commodity economy was put forward, it put forward new requirements for political reform. "Without reforming the political system, the achievements of economic system reform cannot be guaranteed and the economic system reform cannot continue to advance"; In 1987, the Thirteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China formulated the general goal and direction of political system reform. In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed that the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the Socialism with Chinese characteristics system and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.
Thus, China’s reform has always been the coordinated promotion of economy and politics. Of course, compared with the radical reform in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the reform in China is quite different. The radical reform of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is dominated by politics, and its goal is to implement a western-style democratic system, and political change dominates economic change. China’s gradual reform is based on the socialist system, and economic change promotes political change. According to the viewpoint of historical materialism, the political system, as a superstructure, can only be specifically judged in its relationship with a specific economic base. It is in line with the theoretical logic of historical materialism to determine the objectives and steps of political superstructure reform from the requirements of economic base, rather than the direction and path of economic reform from the political superstructure, which is also an important reason for the success of China’s gradual reform.
Correctly handle the relationship between reform, development and stability. Reform, development and stability are the three important fulcrums of China’s economic and social development. Reform is the driving force of economic and social development, development is the key to solving economic and social problems, and stability is the premise of reform and development. The logic of the gradual development of China’s reform and opening up is always to unify the strength of reform, the speed of development and the degree that society can bear, with special emphasis on the prerequisite role of stability. First of all, this is the inevitable result of summing up historical experience and lessons. The history of social chaos in China shows that a stable environment is the fundamental premise of national construction and governance. Looking around the world, this is also a painful lesson. The drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the "color revolution" that broke out in many countries in the 21st century all warned us that "without a stable environment, nothing can be achieved, and the achievements already made will be lost". Secondly, emphasizing the premise of stability is closely related to the essence of reform. The essence of China’s reform is the readjustment of interest relations. Friction and even conflict will inevitably occur in the process of transformation between the old and new systems and the old and new interest patterns. Without stable political authority and legal order, these frictions and conflicts may lead to social division and even social collapse. China’s gradual reform adopted a moderate and gradual way to adjust interests, greatly reducing social friction and maintaining social stability. At the same time, the cost of reform will be diluted to a longer period of time to be digested.Effectively prevented the drastic changes and collapse of social order.
The Future Evolution of China’s Reform and Opening-up
Looking back on China’s 40 years of reform and opening up, a successful experience is to follow the logic of gradual development. Of course, China’s gradual development path is not beneficial without disadvantages, but only a choice with big advantages and small disadvantages. With the continuous advancement of reform and opening up, the internal and external environment and target requirements of reform and opening up have undergone fundamental changes compared with 40 years ago. The future evolution of China’s reform and opening up faces many urgent problems. Among them, the following two questions are the most critical.
Make full theoretical preparations and strengthen top-level design. At the beginning of the reform and opening up, we put forward the idea of "no arguments", with the aim of respecting practice and not talking on paper. However, this does not mean that the reform does not require theoretical guidance and top-level design. In the past, the gradual reform was implemented because we had not fully understood some major issues related to the reform and could not draw the overall road map of the reform, so we had to "cross the river by feeling the stones." Crossing the river by feeling the stones and strengthening the top-level design are dialectical unity. Crossing the river by feeling the stones emphasizes gaining true knowledge from practice, which is the logic of reform and development with China characteristics. Today, the direction, objectives and paths of various reforms that need to be promoted urgently have been clarified. The reform can no longer be unilaterally emphasized to cross the river by feeling the stones, but needs to be comprehensively promoted under the guidance of systematic theories. Deepening the reform in an all-round way has entered the critical period and deep water area. The key to deepening the reform is not understanding but determination. This requires reformers to dare to take responsibility, dare to bite hard bones, and dare to venture into dangerous beaches. The so-called gradual reform cannot be an excuse to delay or block the reform. We must systematically push forward and comprehensively deepen the reform with decisive courage and full preparation. The reform has advanced to the present, and it is urgent to comprehensively deepen the top-level design of the reform. It is necessary to make an overall plan for the reform and development in the economic, political, cultural, social and ecological fields, strengthen the research and judgment on the relevance of various reforms, and strive to achieve the overall and local matching, the combination of palliative and radical treatment, and the promotion of gradual progress and breakthrough.
(The author is a professor and doctoral supervisor at Peking University Marxist Institute, and Liu Jun, executive deputy director of the Center for Popularization and International Communication of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Theory in Peking University)
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