Four Modernizations

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The key to the four modernizations is the modernization of science and technology. Without modern science and technology, it is impossible to build modern agriculture, modern industry, or modern national defense. Without the rapid development of science and technology, there can be no rapid development of the economy.

The new idea was that all workers should not be paid the same, but rather, paid according to their productivity. The thinking was that in order to be a consumer society, China would need to be a producing society. In December 1978 at the 3rd plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping announced the official launch of the Four Modernizations, formally marking the beginning of the reform.[ citation needed ]

Deng described a xiaokang society as a goal of the Four Modernizations. [8] :65 In a 1979 discussion with Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira, Deng used the concept to distinguish China's path of development from other approaches, stating, "The Four Modernizations we hope to realize are a Chinese Four Modernizations. Our conceptualization of the Four Modernizations is not like your conception of modernization, but it is a xiaokang family." [8] :65

Recognizing the need for technical assistance to spur this most important modernization, the Chinese Government elicited the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the fall of 1978 to scope out and provide financial resources for the implementation of an initial complement of targeted projects. The initial projects from 1979 to 1984 included the establishment of overseas on-the-job training and academic programs, set-up of information processing centers at key government units, and the development of methods to make informed decisions within the Chinese context based on market principles. The key advisor to the Chinese government on behalf of the UNDP was Jack Fensterstock of the United States. This first technical assistance effort (CPR/79-001) by the UNDP led to the entry of large-scale multilateral funding agencies including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.[ citation needed ]

As part of the effort to pursue the Four Modernizations, the Chinese government revived plans for the Three Gorges Dam, emphasizing the need to develop hydroelectric power. [9] :204

Proposed additions

On December 5, 1978, former Red Guard Wei Jingsheng posted "democracy" as the Fifth Modernization on the Democracy Wall in Beijing. He was arrested a few months later and jailed for 15 years until 1993. [10]

See also

References

  1. Ogden, Chris (March 21, 2019). "'Four Modernizations'". A Dictionary of Politics and International Relations in China. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-184812-4. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  2. 1 2 人民日报 (January 31, 1963). 在上海举行的科学技术工作会议上周恩来阐述科学技术现代化的重大意义 [Science and Technology in Shanghai at the conference on Zhou Enlai explained the significance of modern science and technology]. People's Daily (in Chinese). Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 14, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  3. Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. "Four Modernizations Era". A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization. University of Washington. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  4. "从"小康"到"全面小康"——邓小平小康社会理论形成和发展述论--邓小平纪念网--人民网". People's Daily . Archived from the original on March 30, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  5. "Meet "moderately prosperous" China". worldin.economist.com. November 21, 2019. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 Zhong, Yang (2024). "Attitudes Toward Religion, Science, and Technology in China". In Zhong, Yang; Inglehart, Ronald (eds.). China as Number One? The Emerging Values of a Rising Power (EPUB). China Understandings Today series. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN   978-0-472-07635-2.
  7. 人民日报 (February 22, 1963). 阐明农业科学技术工作任务 [Clarify the tasks of agricultural science and technology]. People's Daily (in Chinese). Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  8. 1 2 Smith, Craig A. (2019). "Datong and Xiaokang". In Sorace, Christian; Franceschini, Ivan; Loubere, Nicholas (eds.). Afterlives of Chinese Communism: Political Concepts from Mao to Xi. Acton, Australia: Australian National University Press. doi: 10.22459/ACC.2019 . hdl: loc.gdc/gdcebookspublic.2020718247 . ISBN   9781760462499. JSTOR   j.ctvk3gng9 . LCCN   2020718247.
  9. Harrell, Stevan (2023). An Ecological History of Modern China. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN   9780295751719.
  10. Brook, Daniel (2005). Modern revolution: social change and cultural continuity in Czechoslovakia and China. University Press of America. p. 109. ISBN   978-0-7618-3193-8. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2020.

Further reading

Four Modernizations
Traditional Chinese 現代化
Simplified Chinese 现代化
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin sì gè xiàndàihuà
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping sei3 go3 jin6 doi6 faa3