Full Speed Ahead, 1985–1992

The Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth Central Committee of the CPC held in October 1984 made the “Decision on Economic System Reform”, which comprehensively expounded the direction, principles and steps of economic restructuring, and a blueprint was drawn up for the overall reform. The Report of the 13th Party Congress held in October 1987 put forward for the first time the idea that the system of socialist planned commodity economy should be an inherently unified system of planning and market. The new economic operation mechanism, in general, should be one in which “the state regulates the market and the market guides the enterprises”. The current task of deepening the reform is to focus on the central link of converting the business mechanism of enterprises, and to carry out in stages complementary reforms in the systems of planning, investment, materials, public finance, finance and foreign trade, so as to gradually establish the basic framework of the new system of planned commodity economy. Under the guidance of the above-mentioned documents, the reform of China’s economic system stepped into a comprehensive stage during this period.