This book reviews the basic process of China’s fourteen five-year plans with systematic theoretical overview and rich historical data and moves on to discuss the theoretical logic of plan-based state governance. The authors hold that the five-year planning system with Chinese characteristics is a flexible planning system; through adaptive macro-planning and incentive target governance, it mobilizes government, market and social forces to work together to fulfill national objectives and is a representative mechanism of the state governance system and a symbol of modernized state governance capacity.
From an academic point of view, it theoretically answers questions about what, why and how concerning the five-year plans. From an interdisciplinary perspective, it explores the theoretical logic and experience of plan-based governance by combining Marxism, western theories, and the science of history. Also, it tries to represent historical facts based on a vast literature about the history of CPC and PRC, reviews historical details of the previous thirteen five-year plans, and describes the great journey of the plan preparation and implementation under the CPC leadership.
This book has been published in Simplified Chinese (Peking University Press) and Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong Open Page Press). It has won the 2021 Annual Books of China Economics Education and Research Network, the first prize of excellent Works of the First Young Marxism Prize, 100 "Red Classic Reading" recommended reading books of Jiangsu National Reading Activity Leading Group celebrating the Centennial of the Founding of the Party, and Jintai Good Books of People's Daily Library.
Author(s): Jun Yin, Jia Xu
Series: Understanding China
Edition: 1st ed. 2022
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 283
City: Singapore
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
1 Introduction
1.1 State Governance and Planning System
1.1.1 National Development from a State Governance Perspective
1.1.2 Typical State Governance Behind China’s Economic Miracle
1.1.3 The Five-Year Planning System with Chinese Characteristics
1.1.4 A Brief History of the Rise and Fall of Planning Worldwide
1.2 The Logic of Governance by Planning
1.2.1 Three Basic Theoretical Questions
1.2.2 What is Planning?
1.2.3 Why Is Planning Needed?
1.2.4 How to Plan?
1.3 Developing a Planning Theory with Chinese Characteristics
1.3.1 A Methodology for Building a Planning Theory with Chinese Characteristics
1.3.2 Taking Axioms of Marxism as the Body, and Making Good Use of Western Learning Systems
1.3.3 Learning from Historical Experience and Lessons
References
2 Five-Year Plans in Exploration
2.1 The CPC’s Planning and Preparation for National Development Before 1953
2.1.1 The Grand Blueprint of the PRC Relied on Planning
2.1.2 Preparation for a Planned Economy: Formation of the State-Owned Economy, Adjustment of the Industry and Commerce, and Establishment of Planning Management Mechanism
2.1.3 The Drafting of National Economic Plans: Advancing in the Course of Exploration
2.1.4 The Initial Practice of the Planned Economy in Northeast China
2.2 The First Five-Year Plan: An Important Beginning of China’s Transformation from an Agricultural Country to an Industrial Country
2.2.1 Mao Tse-Tung Pointed Out That the Strategy of Giving Priority to the Development of Heavy Industry Was the “Policy of Great Benevolence”
2.2.2 The Visit to the Soviet Union and the Signing of Agreements
2.2.3 The Establishment of the Working Procedure of “Down Twice and Up Once” in the National Planning System
2.2.4 “A Five-Year Plan, Being Planned Over Five Years”
2.2.5 Unprecedented Investment in Chinese History
2.2.6 “The Spring in the History of China Planning”
2.3 The Second Five-Year Plan Through Ups and Downs
2.3.1 “With All Unfolding at Full Tilt”
2.3.2 Zhou Enlai Said with Concern, “The Preparation of Plans Must Be Based on the Reality”
2.3.3 Recommendations for the Second Five-Year Plan Submitted to the Eighth CPC National Congress
2.3.4 With the Sudden Change of Situation, the National Economic Construction Was Out of the Sound Development Track
2.4 Adjustments and Eight-Character Policy After the Second Five-Year Plan
2.4.1 “Don’t Be Ashamed of Mentioning the Mistakes We Have Made: Only by Reviewing and Learning from Them Can We Provide Timely Guidance”
2.4.2 “Work According to the Plan, Not in Favor of Subjective Desires and Ambitions”
2.4.3 “Now It Is Time to Resolve to Correct Mistakes”
2.4.4 “Now a Period to Reinvigorate Both Agriculture and Industry Is Needed”
2.5 The Third Five-Year Plan: From Focusing on Basic Necessities to Preparing for War
2.5.1 “The Plan of Food, Clothing and Life Necessities”
2.5.2 The Starting Point for Mao Tse-Tung’s Consideration of the Third Five-Year Plan Was to Prepare for War
2.5.3 “I Will Be Too Uneasy to Sleep if the Iron and Steel Industrial Base in Panzhihua Is Not Set Up”
2.5.4 To Further Study the Third Five-Year Plan and the Third-Line Construction by Mao Tse-Tung’s Requirements
2.5.5 The Comprehensive Implementation of the Third-Line Construction and the Formulation of the Third Five-Year Plan
2.5.6 Strive to Complete the Third Five-Year Plan
2.6 The Fourth Five-Year Plan: Exceeding in Three Respects and Adjusting Twice
2.6.1 The Blind Pursuit of High Speed and High Targets Led to the “Excess in Three Respects”
2.6.2 “Why Are We Unable to Do What We Could Do in the Past? I’m Very Upset About It”
2.6.3 “In Socialist Construction, Both Production and Technology Work Must Be Done Well”
2.6.4 The Fourth Five-Year Plan Was Fulfilled After Twists and Turns
2.7 The Fifth Five-Year Plan at a Great Historical Turning Point
2.7.1 The Economy Was Hit Hard in 1976
2.7.2 Smashing the Gang of Four and Formulating a New Leap Forward Plan
2.7.3 The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee: A Turning Point in History
2.7.4 Putting Forward the Eight-Character Policy of Adjusting, Restructuring, Consolidating, and Improving
References
3 Five-Year Plans During Reform and Opening-Up
3.1 The Sixth Five-Year Plan: Another Period of Rapid National Economic Growth
3.1.1 Deng Xiaoping Stressed, “Attention Should Be Paid to Adjustments. Reform Should Be Subordinate to and Conducive to Adjustments Instead of Hindering Them”
3.1.2 The “Long-Awaited” Five-Year Plan—The Sixth Five-Year Plan Announced to the Whole Society
3.1.3 A Significant Transformation in the Planned Economy: The Twelfth National Congress of the CPC Proposed the Idea of a “Planned Economy as the Mainstay Supplemented by Market Regulation”
3.1.4 Significant Achievements During the Sixth Five-Year Plan
3.2 The Seventh Five-Year Plan: Reform, Ups and Downs, and Development
3.2.1 Theoretical Breakthroughs After Adopting a “Planned Commodity Economy”
3.2.2 Where Is the Limit of “Capacity”: The Seventh Five-Year Plan Formulated in Debate
3.2.3 The Start of the Seventh Five-Year Plan Was Overheated with Chen Yun Reminding of the Importance of “Staying Clear-Headed”
3.2.4 Rectification Proved to Be Effective, and the Seventh Five-Year Plan Was Successfully Fulfilled
3.3 The Eighth Five-Year Plan: High-Speed Growth with “Soft Landing”
3.3.1 Conducting Rectification and Improvement While Developing the Economy in a Sustainable, Stable, and Balanced Manner
3.3.2 “Once We Are Sure That Something Should Be Done, We Should Dare to Experiment and Break a New Path”
3.3.3 The Central Government Adjusted the Eighth Five-Year Plan After the Southern Talks
3.3.4 Macro Regulation and a Soft Landing for Economic Growth
3.3.5 The Eighth Five-Year Plan: One of the Best Implemented Five-Year Plans Since the Founding of the PRC
3.4 Completion of the Ninth Five-Year Plan: A New Milestone in the History of China’s Development
3.4.1 The New Domestic and International Environments Fueled New Features for the Ninth Five-Year Plan
3.4.2 The First Five-Year Plan Formulated Under the Conditions of a Socialist Market Economy
3.4.3 Timely Adjust the Ninth Five-Year Plan in Response to the Asian Financial Crisis
3.4.4 “The Economic Situation This Year Is the Best Ever Since”
3.5 The Tenth Five-Year Plan: China as an Important Underpinning and Engine of Global Economic Development
3.5.1 Take the Strategic Adjustment of Economic Structure as the Mainline
3.5.2 The Formulation of the Tenth Five-Year Plan: Universal Discussion and Wide Participation
3.5.3 The Targets of the Plan Should Give Leeway Due to International and Domestic Uncertainties
3.5.4 China Became an Important Underpinning and Engine of Global Economic Development
References
4 Five-Year Plans Formulated in a Scientific Manner
4.1 The Eleventh Five-Year Plan: The Full Application of the Scientific Outlook on Development
4.1.1 Background to the Formulation of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan
4.1.2 Prepare the Eleventh Five-Year Plan in a Democratic and Scientific Manner
4.1.3 Guiding Principles and Development Goals of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan
4.1.4 Targets of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Were Exceeded
4.2 The Twelfth Five-Year Plan: An Action Plan for Sound Development
4.2.1 China Would Remain in a Period of Strategic Opportunities, During Which Much Can be Accomplished
4.2.2 Procedures and Process of the Formulation of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan
4.2.3 Main Objectives of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan
4.2.4 Significant Achievements in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period
4.3 The Thirteenth Five-Year Plan: Practicing a New Development Philosophy and Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects
4.3.1 Adapt to, Better Understand, and Successfully Steer the New Normal in Economic Development
4.3.2 “If the Development Concepts Are Right, Objectives and Tasks, as Well as Policies and Measures Will be Rationally Set Accordingly”
4.3.3 A Shared Vision of Chinese People
4.3.4 World-Renowned Achievements Made in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan Period
References
5 The Planning Atlas with Chinese Characteristics
5.1 The Framework
5.1.1 The Planning System Embedded in National Governance
5.1.2 The Preparation and Implementation of Plans
5.1.3 “One-Body and Two-Wing” Operating Mechanism
5.2 The Evolutionary Path
5.2.1 Evolution of Planning Content
5.2.2 Evolution of Plan Preparation
5.2.3 Evolution of plan implementation.
5.3 Historical Experience
5.4 Enhance the Rationality of Planning from Multiple Perspectives
5.4.1 Prepare Plans by Drawing on the Collective Wisdom
5.4.2 Implement Plans by Mobilization and Incentives
References
6 Chinese Planning Toward the Future
6.1 Challenges and Countermeasures
6.1.1 On the Content of Planning
6.1.2 On the Formulation of Plans
6.1.3 On the Implementation of Plans
6.2 Five-Year Plans for the Future
6.2.1 The Fourteenth Five-Year Plan: Embarking on a New Journey to Achieve the Second Centenary Goal
6.2.2 The Implications of China’s Planning for the World and its Research Prospects
Appendix: The Contents of the 13 Five-Year Plans
References
