The time period in China from the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 until the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre is often known as Dengist China, Reform era, or Long 1980s. In September 1976, after CCP Chairman Mao Zedong's death, the People's Republic of China was left with no central authority figure, either symbolically or administratively. The Gang of Four was purged, but new Chairman Hua Guofeng insisted on continuing Maoist policies. After a bloodless power struggle, Deng Xiaoping came to the helm to reform the Chinese economy and government institutions in their entirety. Deng, however, was conservative with regard to wide-ranging political reform, and along with the combination of unforeseen problems that resulted from the reform and opening up policies, the country underwent another political crisis, culminating in the crackdown of massive pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.
Historiographical periodization This era is sometimes referred to as China's "Long 1980s." While frequently invoked to refer to a broad reform era, different scholars hold different historiographical periodizations. The debates are over when should this period begin and end – 1976 or 1978, 1989 or 1992. Main events during this period include the Third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 1978, the debate on humanism and alienation and subsequent “anti-spiritual pollution” campaign in 1983, the 1986 student protests and subsequent “anti-bourgeois liberalization” campaign in 1987, the 1989 Tiananmen protests and subsequent crackdown, Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour and the subsequent 14th Party Congress in 1992.
Power struggles after Mao's death Hua Guofeng and the return of Deng Xiaoping (1976–1978) Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), died on September 9, 1976. The CCP, in the wake of his death, officially urged "[the carrying out of] Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and policies in foreign affairs resolutely." At the time of his death, China was in a political and economic quagmire. The Cultural Revolution and subsequent factional fighting had left the country much poorer, weaker, and isolated than it had been in 1965. Scores of capable party officials, bureaucrats, intellectuals, and professionals were languishing in prison or laboring in factories, mines, and fields. Many schools had been closed, and an entire generation of young people were unable to obtain an education, coming of age as a "lost generation", finding it harder to be employed and integrate into social life.
Chinese people mourned him, but not in the more emotional way they had mourned the late Premier Zhou Enlai. Meanwhile, Mao's designated successor Hua Guofeng had assumed the post of party chairman. Hua was unaware that the Gang of Four were plotting his downfall until Defense Minister Ye Jianying and several generals warned him about this, saying that he'd better do something before it was too late. Hua was a bit surprised, but he agreed, and on the 6th or 7 October the Gang were arrested. None of them put up any resistance, although one of Jiang Qing's housekeepers reportedly spat at her as she was being taken away.
The demise and arrest of the Gang of Four prompted nationwide celebrations, such as parades in the streets, not limited to Beijing and other major cities. The Gang of Four symbolized everything that went wrong during the ten years of chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and their demise, the general populace had expected, would mark the beginning of a new era.
In late 1976 and early 1977, the state propaganda machine was working overtime to promote Hua Guofeng. He was billed as being Mao's personally appointed successor (with paintings produced showing him receiving Mao's final blessings) and as having saved China from the Gang of Four. Hua tried to fill his mentor's shoes by, among other things, sporting an identical haircut. He stated that "in order to honor Chairman Mao, we should govern in accordance with his wishes." and proclaimed the Two Whatevers, meaning that "Whatever Chairman Mao said, we will say, and whatever Chairman Mao did, we will do." Throughout 1977–78, policy efforts centered around economic recovery. Schools began to reopen, and the more extreme aspects of Mao's personality cult were toned down. It was now being said that he was a great leader and thinker, but not an infallible god and that the revolution had been the work of many people and not just him. The Cultural Revolution was said to have been a well-meaning idea that got out of control, and Hua declared that a second Cultural Revolution might be necessary in a few years. Beginning in April 1978, newspapers stopped printing Mao's quotations in bold text. Nuclear weapons testing, missile, and space launches continued apace.
Hua's reliance on Maoist orthodoxy led him to continue a cult of personality surrounding his own image alongside Mao's, equating his presence to that of Mao, but pinpointing the focus at a nominally separate era. To provide for distinct identity, Hua attempted his own change of the Chinese written language by further simplifying characters. A small number of these Hua-era simplifications continue to be in use informally, as there was no formal sanction of their legitimacy after Hua left office. In 1978, the National Anthem was changed to reflect pure communist ideology rather than revolutionary drive, inserting lyrics exclusively dealing with Mao Zedong Thought and building an ideal socialist nation, as opposed to the wartime patriotism reflected by the original lyrics. However, Hua faced difficulty legitimizing his power due to continuing factional struggle and the fact that his rule was not legitimized by the NPC until his prior promotion to party chairman was legally ratified in 1977.
Hua's unimaginative policies received relatively little support, and he was regarded as an unremarkable leader, lacking political support within the Politburo. At the time Deng Xiaoping was still living in seclusion because of "political mistakes," and the issue of his return to politics was yet again put on the table. Deng had insisted on supporting all of Hua's policies in one of the letters the two men exchanged, to which Hua responded that Deng had "made mistakes, and rightfully must continue to receive criticism." The arrest of the Gang of Four, Hua said, did not justify that Deng's "revisionist" ideas should resurface. During a Politburo meeting in March 1977, many members voiced support for Deng's return, to no avail. In a letter to Hua dated April 10, Deng Xiaoping wrote, "I am fully behind Chairman Hua's policies and agenda for the country." This letter would be openly discussed in the Politburo, and in July 1977, Deng Xiaoping was restored in his former posts. In August, the 11th Party Congress was held, which again rehabilitated Deng and confirmed his election as the new Committee Vice-chairman, and the Central Military Commission's vice-chairman, Deng guaranteed the elevation of his supporters, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang and Wan Li.
On 5 March 1978, a new constitution was adopted. This was the third one used by the PRC, after the original 1954 document, which was scarcely implemented (particularly after the Anti-Rightist Movement) and referred to by Mao as being "[in many parts] obsolete" by 1958, and the short-lived 1975 "Gang of Four" constitution. The new one was patterned after the 1954 constitution and attempted to restore some rule of law and mechanisms for economic planning. In regards to the latter, Hua Guofeng wanted a return to the Soviet-style economics of the mid-1950s. He drew up a ten-year plan which emphasized heavy industry, energy, and capital construction.
In regards to foreign policy, Hua made his first trip abroad in May 1978. This was a visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where he was given a warm reception and joined North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in calling for the United States to withdraw its troops from the Republic of Korea. In September, Deng Xiaoping also visited the North Korean capital Pyongyang. He was unimpressed with Kim Il-sung's extensive personality cult, having seen enough of this sort of thing in China with Mao and also took umbrage at being expected to lay a wreath in front of the giant gold-plated statue of Kim in Pyongyang. Deng reportedly expressed his displeasure at how the aid money given to North Korea by China over the years was being spent on statues and monuments honoring Kim. He suggested that they might be better served using that aid to improve their people's living standards. The North Koreans appeared to have gotten the message, for the gold plating was quietly scraped off the Kim statue in Pyongyang afterwards.
Trying to crawl out of its international isolation, China mended fences with President of Yugoslavia Josip Tito, who visited Beijing in May 1977 after having been long denounced as a "revisionist" and a traitor. In October 1978, Deng Xiaoping visited Japan and concluded a peace treaty with that country's prime minister Takeo Fukuda, officially ending the state of war that had existed between the two countries since the 1930s. While Japan and China had in fact opened diplomatic relations in 1972, the peace treaty took nearly six years to negotiate, one major sticking point being Chinese insistence on Tokyo including a clause that denounced Soviet "hegemony" in Asia.
There was little sign of improved relations with the Soviet Union, and Deng Xiaoping declared the 1950 Sino-Soviet friendship treaty to be null and void. Relations with Vietnam suddenly turned hostile in 1979. These two countries had once been allies, but in 1972 Mao Zedong told Vietnamese premier Pham Van Dong that they should stop expecting Chinese aid and that the old historical feud between the two countries would erupt again. China also gave its support to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime that took power in Cambodia during 1975, provoking the hostility of the Soviet-backed Vietnamese government. In January 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and drove the Khmer Rouge from power. During his U.S. visit, Deng Xiaoping remarked that Vietnam would have to "be taught a lesson". In February, a full-scale Chinese attack was launched on the Vietnamese border. Although China withdrew after three weeks and declared its objectives met, the war had not gone well and demonstrated the country's weakness. The PLA lost over 20,000 men due to weapons and equipment that were outdated, poorly made, and in short supply (a side effect of the disruption caused by the Cultural Revolution), maps that were decades old, the continued use of human-wave tactics from the Korean War, and the fact that the army had no system of ranks. Even worse was that the Chinese had not even engaged Vietnam's regular army (which was in Cambodia), but instead fought militia and home guard units. On the other hand, it was a political victory since the Soviet Union had failed to come to its ally's aid and contented itself with verbal protests. In reference to Moscow's inaction, Deng Xiaoping reiterated Mao Zedong's saying that "You can't know how the tiger will react until you poke its backside."