A Study of the Third Plenum of the CCP`s Eleventh Central Committee

• Main Authors: Hsu-Chiung Fang, 許瓊方
• Other Authors: Mao-Chi Chi
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/79655902671235986426

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 歷史研究所碩士在職專班 === 96 === After the downfall of “the Gang of Four”, Hua Guofeng released his “two whatevers” notion, which continued the era of Mao Zedong’s “Leftist” ideology strongly preventing Deng Xiaoping to resurge his political arena. Hua also declared the Tiananmen Incident in 1976 as a counter-revolutionary event. However, Deng Xiaoping, who reinstated his power from the convocation of the Third Plenary Session of the Tenth Central Committee of the Communist Party, repeatedly advocated his principle of “seek truth from facts”. This principle formed a striking contrast with “the two whatevers”. When Deng’s disciples published “Practice is the Sole Criterion for Testing Truth”, the article aroused a fierce ideological debate over the line of “emancipating the mind” and “seeking truth from facts” within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At the time the dispute of the CCP leaders took place, the Big-Character Poster (the symbolism of the democratic ideology) appeared on the Beijing Xidan Wall. By combining the support of local governmental leaders and the public, the veteran cadres, who supported the “Seek Truth from Facts”, took the leading role at the Convocation of the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party. This group of cadres formed a collective leadership with Deng Xiaoping as the leading role. At this conference the Committee of CCP decided to shift the focus of the Party to socialist modernization, to set the open and reformational economic policy, and to make the preparation for the reassessment of the Cultural Revolution and of Mao Zedong. The Committee not only corrected Mao Zedong’s “Leftist” ideology, but also changed the political routes of the Nation and of the Party. This session was a great turning point in CCP history since the founding of the People''s Republic. Based on a large amount of historical data, this article researched the process of the decisive ideological turn in the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Party Congress. It also discussed the impact of this conference on the development of Chinese history.