The Post-Mao Transition in China: From the Ashes of Revolution toward Reform, 1976-1978

The project examines the elite politics behind one of the most remarkable transformations within a continuing political system in the late 20th century. It provides a new interpretation of the evolution of post-Mao Chinese politics from an effort to restore the pre-Cultural Revolution political system toward a less orthodox approach that developed in piecemeal fashion before being labeled 'reform' in the 1980's. The study focuses on the initial period leading up to the 1978 Third Plenium commonly, but somewhat misleadingly, regarded as the start of reform.