Deng Xiaoping Shakes the World: An Eyewitness Account of China's Party Work Conference and the Third Plenum

In 1978 China initiated a change that not only altered its own course but was to have a profound effect on the world. We have long known that it began when Deng emerged as Chinas preeminent leader and launched the era of reform and opening but we have known little about the 34-day Party Work Conference that started on November 10 1978. We have also known little about what went on behind the scenes at the Third Plenum (of the 11th Party Congress) that began immediately after on December 18. Fortunately for historians in 1998 on the 20th anniversary of these events one of the last remaining key participants in these meetings Yu Guangyuan then age 83 wrote a book describing the background and the contents [of both meetings]. Yu was a regular participant in the Party Work Conference. Although he was not a member of the Central Committee he had attended the plenum as a staff member and took regular notes. Yu based his book on detailed notes he had taken at these meetings. ...Thanks to Yus account we now understand the nature of the Party Work Conference and the drama that took place there. Until Yus book appeared it was possible for Western scholars to argue that the turning point in reform and opening was at the Third Plenum of December 1978. We now know that the key debates were held at the 34-day Party Work Conference ... and that the Third Plenum which followed immediately was essentially ceremonial officially approving the new consensus worked out at the Party Work Conference. --From the Introduction by Ezra F. Vogel