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China THE THIRD WAVE OF REFORM, BEGINNING IN 1986
The reform program seems to have followed a logical sequence,
building a base of support in the countryside, where issues and
institutions were more clear-cut, and then moving on to the more
diverse and politically complex urban areas. As the reform program
began to confront major obstacles in this setting, the reform
leaders, led by Deng Xiaoping, began to emphasize the need to
extend reform to political structures in order to make political
institutions and processes more supportive of the modernization
program.
The need for further political reform was underlined by the
continuing difficulty in implementing the factory-director
responsibility system, a major goal of the reform program for 1986.
Party cadres had already lost the privilege of life tenure and been
subjected to the rigors and requirements of the party rectification
programs. They would not easily forfeit operational control of
economic enterprises.
Data as of July 1987
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