Four Modernisations
Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation"
Meaning
The Four Modernisations were the main goals of China's reforms that began in 1978 under Deng Xiaoping. The four areas were science, industry, agriculture and defence. Under them, the Communist Party kept tight political control while opening the economy to the market. They mark China's shift away from Mao's mass campaigns towards steady economic growth.
Example
On 5 December 1978, a wall-poster in Beijing called for a "Fifth Modernisation". This meant democracy. The poster argued that without democracy the other four would "come to nothing". The demand was suppressed.
Don't confuse with
- Fifth Modernisation: This was a popular demand for democracy, raised in the 1978 wall-poster. It was never official policy.
- May Fourth Movement (1919): Its ideals were science, democracy and nationalism. It was a protest movement, not a state programme.
Related concepts
- Communist Party of China
- Comintern
- Mao Zedong
- Long March
- People's Republic of China
- Great Leap Forward
- People's communes
- Cultural Revolution
- Deng Xiaoping
- Socialist market economy