After the Gang of Four was completely smashed, a new issue facing the Chinese people was how to continue to develop socialism and how to make the country prosperous and strong.
** Proposed the method of reform and opening up, he believes that China should not live its own life behind closed doors, but also need to open the door and welcome people from other countries.
In the early days of reform and opening up, there was such a wave, that is, high-level frequent visits to foreign countries for inspection and visits, from 1977 to 1978, the first visit to Eastern Europe, the first led the delegation to visit the five Western European countries, in the early stage of reform and opening up, formed a climax of foreign exchanges and learning.
At that time, it was also a great determination to be able to make such a decision, especially when the Cultural Revolution had just ended, and everyone was still imprisoned by the idea of "class struggle", and it was a great risk to be able to take such a move.
So, why was such a decision made at the time? What are the opportunities for China?
There are three reasons for going abroad for inspection: First, changes in the international situation, second, the predicament of the domestic economy, and third, the process of emancipating the mind.
First, changes in the international situation. In the late seventies of the last century, the world economy underwent profound changes. The capitalist countries of the West have been hit by the world economic crisis and urgently need to open up new markets and strengthen their ties with third world countries and emerging markets.
As a country with great potential and demand, China has attracted the attention and welcome of Western countries. At the same time, the competition for hegemony between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, also provides China with diplomatic space and opportunities. In order to deal with the Soviet Union, the United States hoped to win over China as a strategic partner.
In order to prevent China from turning to the United States, the Soviet Union also had to adopt a détente attitude towards China.
In addition, second-world countries such as Japan and Western Europe, although politically consistent with the superpowers, are increasingly moving closer to third-world countries economically, showing relative independence. These countries have also shown a positive attitude and interest in China.
The second is the dilemma of the domestic economy. In 1976, after the end of the "* period, China's socialist construction entered a new historical period.
The CCP put forward the policy of "not only solving the problem but also stabilizing the situation", and began to expose and criticize the crimes of the "Gang of Four".
In the campaign to expose and criticize, the theoretical emancipation of economic thought was more prominent. Some veteran cadres have returned to their leadership positions, and have begun to have in-depth reflection on "**, and they are more inclined to reform and opening up ideologically."
At the same time, the Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of China also began to focus on the work of railways, agriculture, industry, transportation, finance and trade, etc., and formulated the "Ten-Year Plan Outline", "Eight-year Introduction Plan" and "Twenty-three Year Vision", which depicted the blueprint for China to move towards the four modernization goals.
However, in practice, many problems and difficulties have also been exposed. For example, the planned economic system is too rigid, enterprise management lacks vitality, the level of science and technology is backward, the quality of products is low, and the market demand is insufficient. These problems have made the CCP leaders realize that reform and opening up must be carried out in order to meet the requirements of the new era.
The third is the process of emancipating the mind. On July 21, 1977, the Third Plenary Session of the 10th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China officially resumed his post, which is of great significance for correctly treating the mistakes of his later years and restoring the Marxist ideological line.
** put forward the slogan of "emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts", encouraging everyone to dare to think, dare to innovate, and dare to break through. He also put forward the thesis that "practice is the only criterion for testing truth" and stressed that the quality of work should be evaluated by actual results.
Under the guidance of this ideology, the CCP leaders and economists began to break free from the shackles of the Soviet model and seek a development path suited to China's national conditions.
They believe that in order to do a good job in economic construction, it is necessary to learn from all countries in the world, especially from the developed countries, and learn from their advanced technology and management experience. Therefore, they decided to send a high-level delegation abroad to broaden their horizons and increase their knowledge.
The process of studying abroad can be divided into two stages: one is to learn from the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, and the other is to learn from the developed capitalist countries.
The first is to learn from the socialist countries of Eastern Europe. There is no institutional barrier between the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and China, and their reforms are carried out on the basis of the original system, and the achievements of these countries in reforming the highly centralized planned economic system and the results achieved in learning from the West have greatly attracted China's attention.
Therefore, it is very reasonable to use the reforming socialist countries of Eastern Europe as the object of study, or as a bridge to learn from the West. Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary have become the countries with the most exchanges and learning from China because of the success of reforming the original system.
Since the end of 1977, there has been an increase in the number of high-level visits and visits by the top leaders of the Communist Party of China. In March 1978, Li Yilu led a delegation to Yugoslavia and Romania for an inspection visit, with a focus on Yugoslavia. The mission visited the four Yugoslav republics, mainly in Belgrade.
The report submitted by Li Yilu and others basically repudiated the accusation of "revisionism" in the "Three Commentaries" in the "Sino-Soviet Great Debate" against Yugoslavia, affirmed that Yugoslavia was a socialist country, and recognized the Yugoslav Communist League as a Marxist-Leninist political party.
According to the report of the delegation, the CCP recognized Yugoslavia as a socialist country and decided to restore relations with the Yugoslav Communist Union.
In June 1978, relations between the two parties were formally restored. This also means that on the issue of the diversity of socialist models, the CCP's understanding has changed.
This round of high-level overseas inspections has enabled the Communist Party of China to see the gaps, find confidence, and inspire the courage to catch up. The impact of the information seen and brought back by the overseas delegation on China's senior leaders is twofold: on the one hand, after seeing such a large gap, there is a strong sense of gap and backwardness; On the other hand, it is a sense of opportunity and confidence.
It can be said that overseas study is also a practice of reform and opening up, which plays an important role in understanding the necessity and sense of urgency of the CPC's increasing deepening of reform and opening up, and has formed a series of important achievements on the issue of why and how China should open up.
The CCP leadership's overseas inspection and the report of the overseas delegation provided a catalyst for breaking the "two impermissible" policy, which was of great significance for the recovery and breakthrough of China's foreign introduction policy from 1976 to 1978.
This round of high-level overseas inspections not only enabled the CPC to see the gaps, find confidence, and inspire the courage to catch up, but also made them take warning from some mistakes in foreign economic construction, especially in reform and development, and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.