China Archives - understand-culture

Quadrupling by 2000

In September 1982, the report to the 12th Party Congress set the overall goal for the twenty years from 1981 to the end of the century. China would strive to quadruple, fan liang fan, the gross annual value of its industrial and agricultural output, from 710 billion yuan in 1980 to about 2,800 billion yuan in 2000.

The goal was later counted in gross national product. By that measure, 1995 output reached 5,760 billion yuan, 4.3 times the level of 1980 after price changes. The quadrupling had been reached five years early.

Ensure Eight Percent

In 1998, Zhu Rongji’s new government made “one guarantee”: to ensure that the economy grew by 8 percent that year. The National Bureau of Statistics later reported growth for 1998 of 7.8 percent.

Ten years later, during the stimulus of 2008 and 2009, officials and economists repeatedly used the slogan bao ba, “protect eight.”

Carbon Peak, Carbon Neutrality

On September 22, 2020, Xi Jinping addressed the general debate of the UN General Assembly by video. China, he said, would “strive for carbon dioxide emissions to peak before 2030, and work to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.”

China would also “raise its nationally determined contributions” and adopt “stronger policies and measures.”

Sayings on Many Roads

天下同归而殊途，一致而百虑 All under heaven come to the same end by different roads. There is one outcome and a hundred considerations. (Book of Changes)

殊途同归 Different roads, the same destination. The Handian dictionary traces it to this line. Different methods reach the same result.

万变不离其宗 Ten thousand changes, never leaving the origin. However the form changes, the essence stays the same.

Learning War From War

In December 1936, Mao Zedong wrote Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War. “Reading books is learning, but using is also learning, and the more important kind of learning,” he wrote. “Learning war from war: this is our main method.” People who had no chance to go to school, he added, could still learn war. They could learn it in the war.

Three-Side Projects

During the Third Front construction in China’s interior, many plants were built as sanbian gongcheng, “three-side projects.” Survey, design and construction went on at the same time: bian kance, bian sheji, bian shigong.

According to the news site The Paper, the method caused serious problems of quality and safety. One plant for aircraft parts in Shaanxi was built without knowing the geology. A large landslide followed, with losses of more than 10 million yuan.

No Debate

In early 1992, on his tour of the south, Deng Xiaoping said: “Not debating is an invention of mine. We do not debate so that we win time to act. Once there is a debate, things get complicated. All the time is argued away, and nothing gets done.”

The talks appear in volume three of his Selected Works as “Main Points of Talks in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shanghai and Other Places,” dated January 18 to February 21, 1992.

When the Cart Reaches the Mountain

车到山前必有路 When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a road. The Handian dictionary explains that a matter may run into difficulty, but a solution will be found when the decisive moment comes.

船到桥头自然直 When the boat reaches the bridge, it straightens by itself. The two lines are often said together, meaning that things will work out when the time comes.

The Road Is Made by Walking

Lu Xun wrote in his story My Old Home (Guxiang): “In fact there were no roads on the ground to begin with. When many people walk, a road comes into being.” (其实地上本没有路，走的人多了，也便成了路。)

Cut a Bloody Path

In April 1979, during a central work conference, Xi Zhongxun, the Party leader of Guangdong, asked the center for room to act and proposed export processing zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou. Deng Xiaoping proposed calling them special zones.

“The center has no money,” Deng said. “But it can give some policies. Go and do it yourselves, and cut a bloody path out.”