Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Early “Reform and Opening” in China (1978-1989): A Transnational History of Intellectual Exchanges

Following Mao Zedong's passing, Chinese policymakers and economists embarked on intense debates regarding the overhaul of the country’s centralized planned economy. Past experiments with decentralization and the rural household responsibility system were influential, yet Eastern Europe's economic reforms served as significant reference points, too. Notably, Chinese delegations were dispatched to Yugoslavia to scrutinize enterprise reform and to Hungary to grasp the intricacies of price liberalization. These visits aimed to dissect both the successes and failures of economic policies. Moreover, Eastern European economists were welcomed to China, engaging in discussions with party officials and leading economists, their insights transcending academic boundaries. Their works were also translated and disseminated widely in the public arena. With a focus on the transnational intellectual history through historical documents and academic journals, this talk probed why Eastern Europe's economic reforms failed to avert socialism's collapse, while China's "Reform and Opening" policies thrived.

About the Speaker

Felix Wemheuer is Chair Professor for Modern China Studies at the University of Cologne. His publications include Famine Politics in Maoist China and the Soviet Union (Yale UP 2014) and A Social History of Maoist China: Conflict and Change, 1949-1976 (Cambridge UP 2019).

The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.