to many of China's leaders that economic reform was necessary. During his

tenure as China's premier, Mao had encouraged social movements such as the

Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution which had had as their bases

ideologies such as serving the people and maintaining the class struggle.

By 1978 "Chinese leaders were searching for a solution to serious economic

problems produced by Hua Guofeng, the man who had succeeded Mao Zedong as

CCP leader after Mao's death" (Shirk 35). Hua had demonstrated a desire to

continue the ideologically based movements of Mao. Unfortunately, these

movements had left China in a state where "agriculture was stagnant,

industrial production was low, and the people's living standards had not

increased in twenty years" (Nathan 200). This last area was particularly

troubling. While "the gross output value of industry and agriculture

increased by 810 percent and national income grew by 420 percent [between

1952 and 1980] ... average individual income increased by only 100 percent"

(Ma Hong quoted in Shirk 28). However, attempts at economic reform in

China were introduced not only due to some kind of

Some topics in this essay:
Hua Guofeng, Communist Party, Andrew Nathan, Tyler A8, Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, Organization Gargan, United States', Zuckerman D6, Nevertheless Policy, economic reform, moral force, foreign investments, communist party, tyler a8, human rights, chinese communist, chinese communist party, zuckerman d6, economic reform china, development company, china cracks a13, shandong huaneng, shandong huaneng power, power development company,