The Cambridge Illustrated History of China

During the four decades after the death of Mao in 1976, the Chinese party-state pursued a reform programme intended to correct errors of Mao's later years, rebuild the Communist Party, and improve people's lives. Much was accomplished at remarkable speed. As the economy expanded, millions of people left the countryside for the rapidly growing cities. Poverty was drastically reduced. The intrusion of the government and party into daily life abated, leaving people more leeway to get on with their lives in their own ways. Skyscrapers redrew the skyline of cities across the country. Major cities built multi-line underground systems and were linked to each other by newly built highways and ultra-fast trains as China became a world leader in infrastructure development. In the twentyfirst century, China became the world's largest exporter, its second-largest economy, and a major investor in other countries.

The Communist Party took credit for this remarkable economic transformation. Still it was on the alert for any sign of unrest, especially after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Periods of relative opening up to foreign influence were followed by periods of tighter control. Maintaining control of information became more difficult in the face of evolving communication technologies – first shortwave radios and telephones, then satellite television and fax machines, and then mobile phones and the internet. To gain popular support, the party focused on the need for stability and encouraged nationalistic pride in China's rise. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, China's Belt and Road initiative and Confucius Institutes were prominent features of its new more assertive stance in the international arena. In other ways as well, China was promoting its model of development and drawing attention to its new military might.

The reform programme from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping

In the immediate aftermath of Mao's death in September 1976, the relatively obscure compromise candidate he had selected, Hua Guofeng, took over as head of the Communist Party. After a month of national mourning for Mao, Hua and members of the military staged a political coup, arresting Mao's widow Jiang Qing and three of her closest associates.