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the
''NEW CHINA''
Reaches Out
by
Gene H. Hogberg
While the world has been in the throes of a startling upsurge of terrorism
in the past five years, a revolution of an entirely
different kind has been under way in the world's most populous nation.
TTLE
appreciated by
the outside world, a
remarkable social and
economic transforma tion
has been under way in the
People's Republic of China
spread feeling of public confi–
dence in the future .
The amazing turnabout is large–
ly attributed to two individuals:
ter-made clothes are replacing the
standardized blue uniforms once
favored as "proletar ian."
Deng Xiaoping, the country's top
leader since late 1978, and Zhao
Ziyang, Premier since 1980 .
With free r market fo rces in
operation, and the shift out of
farro communes into family farm–
ing, agricultura! sufficiency has
replaced the years of storages and
rationing.
Zhao Executes "Master Plan"
Deng Xiaoping is believed to have
undertaken China's monumental
reforms without a detailed pro–
gram. According to one longtime
Western observer of Chinese poli–
tics, "There was no path , no map,
only a compass to give him the
general direction."
Fortunately for the 79-year-old
Deng and China, there was a per–
son avai lable to translate the gen–
eralized master plan into practica!
day-to-day reality- Zhao Ziyang.
A victim of the extremist Cul–
r;:
• tural Revolution of 1966-1976,
~
once denounced as a "capitalist
~
roader," Zhao, 64, has risen
Before San Francisco's Chinese community leaders, Premier Zhao Ziyang
emphasizes " no risk" future for Taiwan
in
unity with mainland China.
rapidly in t he Chinese hierar–
chy.
Zhao had won favor for his
agricultura! management of lnner
Mongolia and Guangdong Prov–
ince from 1971 to 1975. He was
subsequentl y promoted to party
secretary and governor of Si–
chuan, C hina's most populous
province, which lay in economic
shambles after the turmoil of the
Cultural Revolut ion.
since 1979.
The implementation of a com–
prehensive policy of economic
reform, coupled with a long peri–
od of domestic tranquillity, has
meant a rapid increase in pros–
perity for t h e more than
1,000,000,000 people of China.
It
has also engendered a wide-
2
As television viewers in the
United States recently witnessed
on an eye-opening two-hour-long
documentary, the change in China
can be visibly measured in the
increasing numbers of motorbikes,
refrigerators, television sets and
other consumer goods Chinese can
now purchase. Brighter and bet-
The PLAIN TRUTH