The publication of basic agricultural statistics by China for the first time in 20 years has quickened the collective pulse of western economists. During the decade of the 1960s there were virtually no statistics and economic discussion of the performance of agriculture was almost restricted to asking “ How much grain does China produce? ” In the early years of the 1970s some national and provincial grain production figures began to appear, but they were fragmentary, often inconsistent and difficult to interpret. Even so, there was a much better statistical basis for economic analysis than had previously existed and the situation improved right up to the fall of the “ gang of four.” Since 1976 the increase in the supply of statistics has been swift, and especially since 1978, quite dramatic and exciting. For economists interested in agriculture, the publication of the new journal Nongye jingji wenti (Problems of Agricultural Economics) by the Agricultural Economic Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Science, and the resurrection of Nongcun gongzuo tongxun (Rural Work Bulletin), have been particularly important.

These reading notes are based upon an initial close reading of an important compilation of documents on the Chinese wage and fringe benefit system previously unavailable in the west and entitled Laodong Gongzi Wenjian Xuanbian (Selected Documents on Labour Wages; cited hereafter as LGWX: date of original document: page number). This volume is over 700 pages long, contains more than 390 documents and regulations on wages and fringe benefits spanning the years 1949 to 1973, and was published in 1973 by the Planning Commission of the Fujian Provincial Revolutionary Committee. The introduction states that some of the documents were included for historical reference only, but most were still being applied in 1973 and thereafter. In this respect it is interesting to note that over half of the documents included were issued in the years 1962–65. Furthermore, although published in Fujian, the great majority of the documents (over 300) were not issued in that province, but by national authorities, particularly the State Council, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Some of the documents included, such as those on the 1956 wage reforms, labour insurance regulations, and holidays and holiday travel leaves, have previously been available in openly-published documents.

These two poems might possibly have been written before 1979, but it is inconceivable that they could have been officially published in China before that year, the most encouraging one for literature and all other areas of China's culture that there had been since 1949. Some writers and editors took the opportunity of breaking into hitherto forbidden territory that political change offered, and by 1980 the trend towards a more honest, human and personal literature was well established. The public image of dogma had been irreparably damaged, and although the old beast was still alive it had been forced on the defensive. In these pages I shall consider some of the most striking work that appeared in official publications in 1979 and try to assess how things changed in that remarkable year.

Educational policy is of central significance in revolutions because it determines both the nature of the leadership and the policies to promote social change. It has been an explosive issue in China where a Marxist revolution has predated the establishment of a developed economic base and a mature urban proletariat.(The “red versus expert” debate which has reverberated in China since 1949 has been a by-product of the struggle to promote the growth of the economic infrastructure while maintaining radical political institutions and attitudes)1 In Mao Zedong's view this struggle represented not the conflict of two irreconcilable principles but the dynamic relationship between two complementary ingredients of China's educational process.2

Publication of local newspapers and magazines was supported and largely flourished over much of China in the 1950s. Although for the most part western scholars had little access to the county dailies and smaller bulletins and tabloids of that period, it was apparent that the Chinese tradition of reporting and chronicling local events in written form continued with little interruption in many localities. In the early and mid 1960s, however, under both economic and political pressures, hundreds of county newspapers and other small publications were closed down or amalgamated. Since then, without much access to local or even many provincial newspapers, scholars outside China have known little of the structure and development of the local press and other news media.1 How many county newspapers survived the 1960s or were revived? To what extent have county wire broadcast networks been developed to meet the need for the dissemination of local information to rural and urban populations? What impact, if any, have the news services of these broadcast networks had on remaining local and provincial newspapers? With the current publishing boom in China, should we expect widespread revival of county-level newspapers or general news magazines?

The death of Zhou Enlai a few months earlier gave the Qing Ming Festival in 1976 a special significance. The festival marks the traditional time to mourn the dead, and Zhou had been widely revered. It was generally felt that he had played a moderating role in the leadership, particularly in the turbulent period of the Cultural Revolution. His death created a political vacuum and the position of premier was left vacant. Conflict in the upper echelons of the Party had increased after the Fourth National Peoples’ Congress in January 1975 adopted as official policy Zhou Enlai's call for a concerted effort to modernize China's industry, agriculture, defence, science and technology. Opposition from those who believed that stressing economic goals would undermine political ones began to be reflected in the media as 1975 progressed. By the end of the year an attack had been launched on “the Right–wing deviationist wind.” Fears were aroused that if the left gained power, China might again face a period of chaos and disruption.