In December of 1978, Deng Xiaoping gave his ground-breaking speech on China’s new policy of “reform and opening up” to the world at the 11th Party Congress. Six months previously, he had addressed an association of Chinese scientists, most of whom had been sent to the countryside for “rehabilitation” during the Cultural Revolution. They would now be considered a major part of the “productive forces” of the country, he said, and would play an important role in developing the economy.
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