Correctly Interpreting the Relationship between Two Historical Periods before and after the Reform and Opening Up in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT The 70-year history of the People’s Republic of China can be divided into two historical periods, before the reform and opening up and after it, with the line of demarcation coinciding with the third plenary session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC in 1978. These two periods are interrelated, but are also different from one another. In essence, they both embody the CPC’s practice in leading the people in socialist construction, and the Party’s exploration of methods for improving that practice. Correctly interpreting the relationship between socialist practice and exploration during the periods before the reform and opening up and after it is not only a historical issue, but also a political one. We therefore need to make a correct evaluation of the historical period before the reform and opening up. We should not use the period following the reform and opening up to negate the period before it, and vice versa.