1978-12-18

Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee

Held in Beijing from 18 to 22 December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CCP formally shifted the Party's central focus from class struggle to economic modernisation under Deng Xiaoping's direction, inaugurating the era of reform and opening-up.

A Turning Point in CCP History

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, held 18–22 December 1978 in Beijing, is widely regarded as the most consequential Party meeting since 1949. It marked the definitive consolidation of Deng Xiaoping's leadership, the formal abandonment of "class struggle" as the Party's central task, and the launch of the reform and opening-up era that would transform China over the following four decades.

Key Decisions

The session endorsed a shift in the Party's central task from political campaigns to economic modernisation, adopting the "Four Modernisations" of agriculture, industry, national defence, and science and technology as the nation's governing objectives. It also initiated a partial reassessment of the Cultural Revolution, the reversal of many wrongful verdicts, and formally rehabilitated the April Fifth Movement (the 1976 Tiananmen Incident). The session passed two key agricultural documents that laid the policy groundwork for the Household Responsibility System — which would effectively de-collectivise agriculture over the following years — and created the political conditions for the subsequent establishment of special economic zones.

Legacy

The Third Plenary Session effectively ended the ideological era of Maoist politics and began China's transition toward what it called "socialism with Chinese characteristics" — a system that retained political one-party rule while progressively liberalising economic activity. Deng Xiaoping's pragmatic formulation "it doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice" captured the new empirical approach to policy. The session's decisions set in motion a process of economic growth that lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty over the following decades.

Narrative Comparison

Source	Narrative
PRC Official Narrative	The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CCP was a great historical turning point of far-reaching significance in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. The session systematically summed up the positive and negative historical experiences since the founding of the People's Republic, thoroughly corrected the errors of the Cultural Revolution, rejected the erroneous line of 'taking class struggle as the key link,' and made the historic decision to shift the focus of the Party's and the state's work to socialist modernisation and to implement reform and opening-up. This great turning point was achieved under the leadership of the second generation of the Party's central leadership collective with Comrade Deng Xiaoping at its core. It conformed to the laws of historical development and reflected the common aspirations of the Party and the people. More than four decades of great reform and opening-up practice have fully proved that the line, principles, and policies established at the Third Plenary Session are entirely correct, and that it marks the historic new starting point from which the Party has led the Chinese people toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Western Academic Analysis	Western scholarship characterises the Third Plenary Session primarily as a pivotal moment in Deng Xiaoping's consolidation of power rather than a straightforward policy shift. From an institutional perspective, the session marked the end of Maoist ideological governance and the establishment of a pragmatist governing mode, but this transformation was not accomplished by the plenary session itself in a single step. Scholars have noted that the session's historical narrative underwent considerable retrospective construction: many policies that were implemented incrementally over the following years — including the Household Responsibility System and the special economic zones — were attributed by the official narrative to this meeting, thereby reinforcing its symbolic status as a turning point. Deng Xiaoping's accumulation of power around the time of the session relied primarily on careful personnel arrangements — elevating allies such as Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to the Politburo — rather than open political confrontation, exemplifying the characteristic operating logic of post-Mao CCP power politics. Scholars have also noted that the near-simultaneous Democracy Wall Movement has been deliberately downplayed in the official narrative: the starting point of reform and opening-up is presented as a proactive policy design by the Party rather than a response to broad social and political pressures.

Source

Narrative

PRC Official Narrative

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CCP was a great historical turning point of far-reaching significance in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. The session systematically summed up the positive and negative historical experiences since the founding of the People's Republic, thoroughly corrected the errors of the Cultural Revolution, rejected the erroneous line of 'taking class struggle as the key link,' and made the historic decision to shift the focus of the Party's and the state's work to socialist modernisation and to implement reform and opening-up. This great turning point was achieved under the leadership of the second generation of the Party's central leadership collective with Comrade Deng Xiaoping at its core. It conformed to the laws of historical development and reflected the common aspirations of the Party and the people. More than four decades of great reform and opening-up practice have fully proved that the line, principles, and policies established at the Third Plenary Session are entirely correct, and that it marks the historic new starting point from which the Party has led the Chinese people toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Western Academic Analysis

Western scholarship characterises the Third Plenary Session primarily as a pivotal moment in Deng Xiaoping's consolidation of power rather than a straightforward policy shift. From an institutional perspective, the session marked the end of Maoist ideological governance and the establishment of a pragmatist governing mode, but this transformation was not accomplished by the plenary session itself in a single step. Scholars have noted that the session's historical narrative underwent considerable retrospective construction: many policies that were implemented incrementally over the following years — including the Household Responsibility System and the special economic zones — were attributed by the official narrative to this meeting, thereby reinforcing its symbolic status as a turning point. Deng Xiaoping's accumulation of power around the time of the session relied primarily on careful personnel arrangements — elevating allies such as Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to the Politburo — rather than open political confrontation, exemplifying the characteristic operating logic of post-Mao CCP power politics. Scholars have also noted that the near-simultaneous Democracy Wall Movement has been deliberately downplayed in the official narrative: the starting point of reform and opening-up is presented as a proactive policy design by the Party rather than a response to broad social and political pressures.

Key Milestones

1978-12-18
Third Plenary Session Opens; Reform and Opening-Up Line Established
The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CCP was held from 18 to 22 December 1978 at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing. The session formally shifted the Party's central task from 'taking class struggle as the key link' to socialist modernisation, and passed two key agricultural documents — the Decision on Certain Questions Concerning the Acceleration of Agricultural Development (Draft) and the Trial Regulations on the Work of Rural People's Communes — laying the policy groundwork for rural reform. The session also rehabilitated the verdict on the April Fifth Movement (the 1976 Tiananmen Incident) and initiated a partial assessment of the Cultural Revolution. In terms of personnel, Deng Xiaoping consolidated his position at the leadership core through the elevation of political allies including Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to the Politburo, while Hua Guofeng's authority was correspondingly reduced. The session's communiqué was formally issued on 22 December 1978.

Last verified: 2026-06-02