Source: CRI

02-29-2008 21:57

China's economic development in the past thirty years since 1978, when China began the economic reform and opening up to the outside world, is always referred to as a "riddle" by people all over the world. The answer to the riddle lies in China's reality, as well as world history.

In the winter of 1991, a particular song would be broadcast via loudspeaker at 6:30AM sharp in rural middle schools located in mountainous areas of northwestern Anhui Province. The song, Red Sun, has strong political flavor and praises the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong. Many years have passed since the lyric's inception yet the song still sounds very bright, pleasing and pure. Accompanied by the song, students in their teens got up and attended morning classes.

From a historical point of view, many years after 1949, most of the popular songs were those of praise with strong political flavor. They have one common subject – to praise the liberation of the country, newly born national systems, achievements that have been accomplished, and leaders' deeds. The fate of these lyrics was deeply linked to authorities in power. They were popular first because the charm of music. They expressed common societal feelings at that time. China also needed united social feelings; the country promoted and encouraged the popularity of these songs.

After 1978, when China's economic reform and opening up began, innumerable new voices replaced these songs. Many lyrics by the famous Taiwan singer Teresa Teng were sung in Mandarin. Although initially many people criticized her songs as vulgar, profane and even "pornographic" at that time, her sweet voice enchanted many Chinese.

The revival of these old songs was a remarkable event that year according to many observers on contemporary China. The Red Sun song expressed memorial feelings toward Chairman Mao. Observers all agreed that memorial for Chairman Mao indicated that people were discontent with their present situation. They no longer called for in-depth reforms in a radical way.

The missing two years

Talking about China's economic development in the past 30 years, people first remember 1992, not 1978, according to Shanghai-based Xinmin Weekly. This is because from January 18 to February 23, 1992, the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping paid visits to several cities – Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai, all located in eastern and southern China. He also gave a landmark speech on China's reform progress. Deng's speeches played a key role in driving forward the county's economic reforms and social progress during the 1990's.

No long before Deng's visits, on December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet met and formally dissolved the USSR. Ironically, that day was also the 100th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth. The collapse of Soviet Union, Mao's anniversary, the popularity of Red Sun, combined together with Deng's inspection of southern China gave people a special feeling that the 1980's had ended. Yet in their minds the 1990's didn't really start from 1990, but from 1992. It appeared that China lost two years: 1990 and 1991, in her history.

Last year the Chinese writer Zha Jianying published a book called Interview with Well-known Persons of the 1980's. The writer said in the preface that: "An American friend of mine once asked me why I spent such a long time compiling and publishing a book about those years. I answered without a moment's thought that the 1980's were romantic times in China, just like 1960's in your country." She said that her American friend was ‘stunned by the comparison'. She said: "The 1960's in the US was undoubtedly a romantic period with special events in US history, featuring idealism, radical self-criticism and learning from the eastern world. Likewise, the cultural mainstream in China during the 1980's also exhibited idealism, radical self-criticism and learning from the western world."

Zha said that the comparison helps foreign readers to quickly understand what she and her interviewees were talking about, although this kind of comparison is actually too simplistic. But she said both she and her interviewees had no intention of romanticizing the history of that period twenty years ago.

In the first ten years since the reform begun in 1978, people felt excited about the changes brought about by the reform. The society underwent great changes; some people may have felt dizzy because the changes were so big, causing them to think the initial years of the 1990's were terribly dull and oppressed. That's why they consider the two years as "lost" in history.