Overview of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture — Historical Evolution and Social Change (Part 5)
Section 5: Reform and Opening Up. In mid-August 1977, the 11th National Congress of the CPC declared the end of the "Cultural Revolution" and reaffirmed the goal of building a modern socialist country, which played a positive role in mobilizing the masses. In particular, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee held in December 1978 shifted the focus of the Party's work...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section 5 Reform and Opening Up
In mid-August 1977, the 11th National Congress of the CPC declared the end of the "Cultural Revolution" and reaffirmed the task of building a modern socialist powerful country, which played a positive role in mobilizing the masses. In particular, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC held in December 1978 made the decision to shift the focus of the whole Party's work to socialist modernization. From then on, the Chinese Communist Party carried out "bringing order out of chaos," resolved a number of historical issues left over since the founding of New China, and Xiangxi, like the rest of the country, entered a new period of reform and opening up centered on economic construction.
I. Reform of the Economic Management System
(1) Rural Reform
In early 1979, the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee and the Prefectural Revolutionary Committee earnestly implemented the CPC Central Committee's decision on accelerating agricultural development and gradually relaxed rural economic policies. Production teams were allowed to divide into work groups internally, calculate remuneration linked to output, and practice more pay for more work. While ensuring the development of the collective economy, commune members were allowed to cultivate private plots, raise private livestock, engage in household sideline production, and go to rural markets. That year, grain output once again achieved a bumper harvest. On April 19, 1981, Vice Premier Wan Li of the State Council passed through Jishou and gave important instructions on rural reform, the central idea being to promote the household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output. The CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee and the Prefectural People's Government earnestly implemented this. That year, 75% of production teams implemented household contracting with remuneration linked to output, and the following year all farming households in the prefecture implemented contracting with remuneration linked to output. This overcame the long-standing blind command in production and egalitarianism in distribution, combined small-scale household management with specialized and socialized production, unified the superiority of collective ownership with the enthusiasm of household management, and solved a fundamental problem in socialist agriculture that had long remained unsolved. At the same time, the small-peasant economy mentality was thoroughly transformed, and the pattern of "taking grain as the key link" was changed. Proceeding from the realities of the mountainous areas of Xiangxi, farmland was returned to forest and grassland. Under the premise of never relaxing grain production, diversified operations were developed, and crop layout and agricultural structure were adjusted. The purchase prices of agricultural products were substantially raised, and the development of a commodity economy and long-distance trading were encouraged. Farmers who understood technology, were good at business, and capable of management were encouraged to work in industry and commerce and to become prosperous first through hard work. In 1982, the total grain output of the 10 counties in the prefecture reached 910 million kilograms, an increase of 20% over 1980; the total agricultural output value reached 612.58 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.73%. The poverty situation of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture was somewhat changed, and in some places a number of specialized households and key households that had become prosperous first emerged. On January 12, 1983, at the First Conference of Specialized Households and Key Households of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, 230 delegates talked freely about their experience of becoming prosperous through labor. Later rural reform mainly focused on improving the household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output and the two-tier management mechanism combining unified and separate management, which played a good role in developing agricultural production and the rural economy.
(2) Urban Reform
In April 1979, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture earnestly conveyed the spirit of the CPC Central Committee's economic work conference, implemented the eight-character principle of "adjustment, reform, rectification, and improvement," vigorously grasped industrial adjustment, and experimented with reforms such as profit-and-loss contracting, fixed taxation, sharing of excess revenue, and production determined by sales.
In June 1981, the People's Government of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture presided over an economic theory seminar, focusing on the question of industrial adjustment. The prominent problem at the time was imbalance, manifested in tight supply of agricultural and sideline raw materials needed by light industry, tight energy supply, and severe shortages of fuel and electricity; an extremely irrational product structure, with some goods in oversupply and others in short supply, and overstocking and out-of-stock situations coexisting; and great blindness in capital construction, with much duplicated construction and low investment returns. In response to these problems, the prefectural Party committee and government first halted blind and duplicated construction projects such as the coal coking joint enterprise, the small steel complex, stone coal power generation, and the nitrogen fertilizer plants in Huayuan and Baojing counties, resolutely changing the situation in which heavy industry was excessively heavy; raised funds to build small hydropower stations to solve the energy bottleneck constraining economic development. They developed the brewing and cigarette industries, which had resource advantages, to change the unfavorable situation in which light industry was excessively light. They carried out comprehensive rectification and technological transformation of key enterprises such as the Pushi Chemical General Plant, the Fenghuang Cigar Factory, and the Jishou Brewing General Plant, resolutely taking the path of connotative expanded reproduction. For industrial enterprises with high consumption, poor quality, large losses, and products not suited to demand, they resolutely implemented closure, suspension, merger, or conversion. In 1982, industry focused on improving the economic responsibility system, improving enterprise management, and doing a good job in comprehensive planned management, quality management, and economic accounting. In 1983, they began to learn from rural reform experience: "contracting" entered the cities, "contracting" entered the factories, and "contracting" entered the shops. In 1988, 80% of industrial enterprises within the budget implemented contracted operations. Enterprise mergers began to appear, and a number of enterprise groups emerged.
In 1987, the enterprise contracted operation responsibility system was comprehensively implemented in industrial and commercial enterprises throughout the prefecture. The main forms of contracting were as follows: first, "three guarantees and one linkage," namely guaranteeing taxes and profits turned over to the state, guaranteeing technological transformation, and guaranteeing the appreciation of fixed assets, with the total wage bill linked to taxes and profits turned over; second, progressive contracting of taxes and profits turned over, under which, on the basis of a verified base figure for taxes and profits turned over, taxes and profits were turned over to the finance department year by year at a prescribed progressive rate; third, contracting of the base figure for taxes and profits turned over, with excess revenue retained in full or shared proportionally; fourth, profit-and-loss contracting, under which enterprises retained all excess profits or received contracted subsidies for losses; fifth, leasing operations. In 1988, more than 90% of state-owned commercial enterprises implemented different forms of contracted operations, of which about 21% were contracted through public bidding.
By the late 1980s, in the urban production and circulation sectors of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, there had already formed multiple economic components with public ownership as the main body, multiple forms of operation with contracted operations as the main body, multiple forms of distribution with distribution according to work as the main body, and multiple circulation channels with state-owned and cooperative commerce as the main body.
(3) Supporting Reforms
In the course of the continuous deepening of agricultural, industrial, and commercial reforms, supporting reforms in planning, prices, finance, taxation, banking, land, science and technology, and labor were successively launched.
In 1981, Hunan Province implemented a fiscal contracting system for Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture featuring "division of revenue and expenditure, graded responsibility, separate accounting, fixed for 5 years." The prefecture, following the provincial-prefecture model, set contracting bases for the 10 counties. For counties whose revenue exceeded expenditure, the industrial and commercial tax served as a regulating revenue, implemented through fixed quotas and proportional remittance; for counties whose expenditure exceeded revenue, fixed subsidies were uniformly applied.
In November 1984, implementing the CPC Central Committee's "Decision on Economic System Reform," the prefecture began establishing a planning system that consciously applied the law of value and developed a socialist commodity economy. For major industrial and agricultural products, there were both mandatory and guidance plans; for state-owned industrial and commercial enterprises under contract management, reforms were carried out to change fixed prices to negotiated prices, allocations to loans, and profits to taxes, following the principle of "paying taxes according to regulations and assuming sole responsibility for profits and losses." Commodities and exchanges entirely regulated by the market were mainly certain agricultural and sideline products, daily-use small commodities, and labor services in the service and repair industries. Prices of agricultural and sideline products and daily-use small commodities were liberalized, and commodity market prices took multiple forms. By 1990, price reform had basically formed three forms: state-set prices, state-guided prices, and market-regulated prices. In that year's total retail sales of social commodities, guided prices and market-regulated prices accounted for over 70%; market-regulated prices accounted for 52% of agricultural products, and 37% of ex-factory prices of industrial products.
Finance and insurance, following the principle of "managing the economy by economic means," gradually changed from "combining deposits and loans" to "separate accounts for deposits and loans," transforming from supporting simple reproduction based on self-sufficiency and semi-self-sufficiency to supporting commoditized and socialized expanded reproduction, extending from the circulation sector to the production sector, and from the material production sector to the non-material production sector. Loans for commercial network facilities were also offered to support the development of commerce, services, and tourism.
Scientific and technological personnel leveraged their expertise to engage in technological transformation, technological development, technological promotion, and technological consulting, transforming potential productivity into actual productivity.
These supporting reforms gradually formed production factor markets such as the capital market, technology market, labor market, information market, and real estate market.
II. Establishment of the Socialist Market Economy System
After the 14th CPC National Congress in October 1992, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture earnestly implemented the spirit of the Congress and actively established a socialist market economy system.
(1) Cultivating Market Entities
The reform of state-owned enterprises was the central link in economic system reform and the top priority in establishing a socialist market economy system. In September 1993, the People's Government of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation of the Operating Mechanisms of State-Owned Industrial Enterprises," emphasizing the expansion of enterprise autonomy so that enterprises could become economic entities with independent operation, sole responsibility for profits and losses, and the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets. In March of the following year, it issued the "Opinions on Several Issues Concerning Further Deepening the Reform of State-Owned Industrial Enterprises," the core of which was to implement new forms of asset operation for state-owned industrial enterprises, with the government implementing tax reductions, profit concessions, and decentralization of power for state-owned enterprise reform. Jishou Brewery General Factory took the lead, optimizing and restructuring through enterprise mergers, carrying out shareholding system transformation, and establishing a modern enterprise system, becoming the first large enterprise with considerable influence in the prefecture and even in Hunan Province—the Xiangquan Enterprise Group. Shareholding cooperative enterprises, collective enterprises, and individual private enterprises flourished. In 1995, the prefecture had 17,420 industrial enterprises, including 314 state-owned enterprises, 512 collective enterprises above the township level, 9 "three-capital enterprises," 223 village-run industrial enterprises, 50 rural cooperative industrial enterprises, 40 private industrial enterprises, 1,246 urban individual industrial enterprises, and 15,026 rural individual industrial enterprises; the output value of non-state-owned industry accounted for 35.9% of total industrial output value, an increase of 8 percentage points over 1992. Through ownership structure reform and deepening enterprise reform, both state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises became equal market competition entities.
During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period from 1996 to 2000, the prefecture's industry, following the principle of "grasping the large and letting go the small," focused on reforming key backbone enterprises with the goal of establishing a modern enterprise system, and on reforming small and medium-sized enterprises with the goal of revitalizing assets. The prefecture Party Committee and government issued opinions on enterprise reform every year. In 1997, Hunan Xiangjiugui Co., Ltd. was established, and its shares were publicly listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 1998, Jishou Cigarette Factory took the lead in piloting the "Youngor" model, carrying out the "two replacements" of enterprise property rights and employee status. Subsequently, Xiangxi Dongfang Manganese Industry Group, Hunan Sanli Group, Hunan Xiyang Food Industry Group, and Hunan Wende Fu Oil and Fat Group Co., Ltd. were established. By 2000, of the 171 independent accounting state-owned industrial enterprises in the prefecture, 143 had adopted various forms of reform such as leasing contracts, bankruptcy, and auctions, with a reform and restructuring rate of 83.6%; of the 383 township collective industrial enterprises, 382 had undergone reform and restructuring.
Entering the new century, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, with property rights diversification at its core, comprehensively advanced the reform and restructuring of state-owned and collective enterprises, vigorously implemented the private economy strategy, and strived to cultivate market economy entities. By 2002, the total number of state-owned enterprises in the prefecture had decreased to 151; the non-public economy accounted for about 70% of the prefecture's total economic output. A number of private enterprises established modern enterprise systems. In 2005, the private economy achieved an added value of 7.53 billion yuan, an increase of 14.1%, accounting for 60% of GDP.
(2) Improving the Market System
Since the 1990s, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, in accordance with the overall national deployment, took commodity market construction as the lead to drive and promote the development of capital, technology, labor, information, and real estate markets, continuously improving the market system. In 2005, the prefecture's 8 counties and cities had 8 market service center management agencies with 410 management personnel. There were 127 commodity markets and farmers' markets, with a market building area of 320,000 square meters, over 20,000 operating households, and a total of 101,000 people engaged in business.
In the consumer goods market, the "monopoly" of state-owned and cooperative commerce was thoroughly broken, forming a large circulation pattern with multiple economic components, multiple operating methods, multiple circulation channels, and few intermediate links. In the means of production market, the 256 types of materials formerly uniformly allocated by the planned materials department and over 600 types managed by industries had been reduced to 72 types under state unified allocation by 1990. By 1995, except for a very few materials vital to the national economy and people's livelihood, the general means of production market had been fully liberalized. While cultivating and improving the commodity market, the prefecture continuously cultivated and improved production factor markets. Through reform, the prefecture's financial system gradually formed financial markets including interbank lending, bill discounting, securities markets, and foreign exchange markets, utilizing various financial forms such as savings, stocks, bonds, insurance, and various funds to ensure rational and orderly circulation of funds in service of the prefecture's economic construction. Regulation and guidance of the technology market were strengthened, and the labor market was cultivated and developed. The land management department, focusing on the conversion of cultivated land and construction land, properly handled the registration of changes in the transfer, assignment, leasing, and mortgage of state-owned land use rights, to adapt to cultivating and standardizing the land market. In 1993, the cultivation and improvement of the real estate market began. Major breakthroughs were achieved in the market-based allocation of mining rights, and mining right auctions became a new highlight of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture's economy. Notable results were achieved in housing system reform. The income distribution system was reformed, the social insurance system was established and improved, and a social security system was formed.
(3) Transforming Government Functions and Strengthening Macroeconomic Regulation
Under the conditions of a socialist market economy, the key to transforming the functions of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture government was to properly handle its triple identity as a social manager, a macroeconomic regulator, and an owner of state-owned enterprises. The government's function of managing the economy was mainly to formulate and implement macroeconomic regulation policies, do a good job in infrastructure construction, and create a favorable economic development environment; at the same time, to cultivate the market system, supervise market operations, maintain equal competition, regulate social distribution, organize social security, control population growth, protect natural resources and the ecological environment, manage state-owned assets, realize the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets, and achieve economic and social development goals; the government managed the national economy using economic means, legal means, and necessary administrative means, without directly interfering in the production and operation activities of enterprises. A mechanism of mutual coordination and mutual restraint among planning, finance, and fiscal departments was established to strengthen macroeconomic regulation. Planning proposed the goals and tasks of national economic and social development. Finance took stabilizing currency value as its primary goal and regulated money supply. The fiscal system used budget and tax means to adjust the economic structure and social distribution, guiding the national economy toward sustained, rapid, and healthy development and comprehensive social progress. In accordance with the requirements of streamlining, unity, and efficiency, a government management system adapted to the new system was established. The government's functions of economic regulation, market supervision, social management, and public services were further strengthened.
III. Political System Reform
Since reform and opening up, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, while adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles, unswervingly advanced political system reform, effectively promoting the building of socialist democratic politics.
Separation of Party and government was implemented. From May 26 to June 2, 1981, the First Session of the Sixth People's Congress of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture legally abolished the Revolutionary Committee of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture and elected the People's Government of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, changing the previous situation in which the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee and the Prefecture Revolutionary Committee worked together in the same office, implementing "unified Party leadership" with "no separation of Party and government" and "substituting the Party for the government." After the separation of Party and government, the prefecture Party Committee, under the premise of implementing the lines of the CPC Central Committee and ensuring the unity of national government orders, exercised political leadership over the work of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. Unifying adherence to Party leadership, the people being masters of the country, and governing the prefecture according to law was the self-improvement and development of the socialist political system. Party leadership was the fundamental guarantee for the people being masters of the country and governing the prefecture according to law; the people being masters of the country was the essential requirement of socialist democratic politics; and governing the prefecture according to law was the basic strategy for the Party to lead the people in building a harmonious Xiangxi.
Reform of government working organs was carried out. For a long period, government organs were bloated and overstaffed, with too many levels, unclear responsibilities, and mutual buck-passing, which was an important cause of bureaucratism. In April 1983, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture began implementing the spirit of the CPC Central Committee's institutional reform work conference. Combining with the prefecture's actual conditions and following the requirements of streamlining institutions, reducing personnel, adjusting leadership teams, and improving efficiency, it reformed Party and government organs at the prefecture and county levels in stages and batches, basically completing the work by the end of that year. In August 1994, to adapt to the requirements of establishing a socialist market economy system, following the principles of separating government functions from enterprise management and streamlining, unity, and efficiency, and proceeding from the prefecture's actual conditions, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture again formulated the "Plan for Institutional Reform of Party and Government Organs of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture," effectively achieving the transformation of functions, rationalizing relationships, simplifying administration, and improving efficiency, and gradually establishing an administrative management system capable of adapting to and promoting the development of a socialist market economy, with complete functions, reasonable structure, coordinated operation, and flexibility and efficiency, to better promote the development of various undertakings in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. As a result of the reform, the prefecture-level Party and government organs were set at 50, a reduction of 19 from the original, streamlining by 27.5%; county and city Party and government organs increased by one beyond the provincial limit, namely adding the Ethnic Affairs Commission, which was included as a government constituent unit.
On June 12, 2001, proceeding from the requirements of establishing a socialist market economy system, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture adhered to the principles of separating government from enterprises, government from public institutions, and government from society, as well as streamlining, unity, and efficiency, and formulated the "Plan for Institutional Reform of Party, Government, and Mass Organs of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture," effectively strengthening Party leadership and promoting the transformation of government functions, rationalizing relationships between Party and government, between departments, and between higher and lower levels, streamlining institutions and staffing, and gradually establishing an administrative management system that is clean and efficient, coordinated in operation, standardized in behavior, and in line with the prefecture's actual conditions. After the reform, the prefecture-level Party and government organs were set at 39, a reduction of 15 from the original, streamlining by 28%. Prefecture-level administrative staffing was reduced from 1,143 to 837, a decrease of 306, streamlining by 26.8%; special staffing for prefecture-level political and legal department organs was reduced from 425 to 382, a decrease of 43, streamlining by 10.1%; the streamlining ratio for public institution staffing with administrative functions included in the reform was in principle no less than 20%. At the same time, institutional reform of county, city, township, and town organs and public institutions was carried out.
On November 9, 2004, in accordance with the requirements of improving the socialist market economy system and advancing political system reform, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture firmly grasped the key of transforming government functions, adjusted and improved the setup of government organs, and carried out institutional reform of prefecture and county/city people's governments. After the reform, the prefecture People's Government set up 27 working departments, 1 directly affiliated special institution, and 2 department-managed institutions.
The national civil servant system was implemented, and public institutions implemented the "must pass an examination to enter" system, striving to form a personnel mechanism that broadly attracts talented people, gives full play to their abilities, allows for promotion and demotion, and is full of vitality, gathering outstanding talents into the various undertakings of the Party and the state. By the end of 1997, the transition of civil servants in state administrative organs above the township level in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture was basically completed, with 11,526 organ cadres formally transitioning to national civil servants, initially establishing the national civil servant system. In 2001, on the basis of implementing the employment system in public institutions, examination-based entry was implemented for new personnel in public institutions. That year, the prefecture successfully publicly recruited 318 medical workers and teachers from society, breaking the old entry system of public institutions.