The Era of "Recovery" (huifu):"Reform and Opening Up" (gaige kaifang) in China
Loyal parents who sacrificed so much for the nation
Never feared the ultimate fate.
Now that the country has become Red,
Who will be its guardians?
Our mission, unfinished, may take a thousand years;
The struggle tires us, and our hair is gray.
You and I, old friend,
Can we just watch our efforts being washed away?
Mao Zedong, poem to Zhou Enlai in 1975, months before both died
Important
Dates:
Dec.
1978 The dominance of Deng Xiaoping is confirmed at the
3rd plenum of 11th Central Committee.
Deng introduces new pragmatic economic reforms-- initiated the
decollectivization of agriculture, the beginning of the "household responsibility
system", and declared an "open door" to foreign investment. Advocates polices for "4
modernizations".
1979 Deng invites delegations from the Dalai Lama's
government to tour Tibetan regions.
Han officials believe they will be impressed. Instead, the tour members are mobbed by sobbing crowds in
Qinghai, Gansu and Lhasa. Tibetan
tour members are shocked by the level of poverty and cultural devastation among
Tibetans. Begin series of failed
negotiations with the exiled govt.
1980 Hu Yaobang, CCP General Secretary, sent to the TAR. He is shocked, likens 20 years of CCP
rule to "colonialism" and calls for 6-point reform program aimed at
modernizing the economy and promoting respect for Tibetan culture.
1981-87 Period of optimistic reform and recovery in China and Tibet. Rural industry booms, incomes and
standards of living increase.
Official corruption increases, major gaps in income emerge. Massive state investment in TAR. Tibetan culture revives, monasteries
reopen. Exiles allowed to
visit. Foreign tourism begins. Influx of Han and Hui migrants begins.
1987 Dalai Lama and exiled govt. launch international campaign. Dalai Lama addresses U.S.
congress. Congress passes
resolution condemning China for human rights abuses in Tibet.
Mar.
1987-1989 Monks' demonstration in Lhasa after Dalai Lama speech
to US Congress committee begins series of protests and riots led by monks and
nuns in Central Tibet. Chinese
security forces violently repress, imprison activists. Hu Yaobang is purged. Unexpected death of the Panchen Lama.
Mar
1989 Beijing declares martial law in Lhasa. Foreigners expelled. Suspected dissidents arrested,
tortured. Hardliners blame liberal
ethnic policies for the unrest.
Spring
1989 Massacre in Tiananmen square. Deng Xiaoping calls in PLA troops to
crack down on massive student and worker protests in Beijing demanding
democracy, end to official corruption.
1990's Period
in which the state continues rapid economic development but cracks down on
political dissent, strengthens security apparatuses, tightens control on school
curricula. Tibetan monasteries
more tightly regulated or closed in a "Patriotic Education"
campaign. Tighter restrictions on
public, especially religious gatherings.
1999 President Jiang Zemin launches the "Great
Develop the West" Campaign.
