grasping the large, letting go of the small
{{Short description|1996 industrial reforms in China}}
The "grasping the large and letting the small go" policy ({{lang-zh|c=抓大放小|p=Zhuā dà fàng xiǎo}}) was part of a wave of industrial reforms implemented by the government of the People's Republic of China in 1996. These reforms included efforts to corporatize state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and to downsize the state sector.
Concept
The slogan and strategy were popularized by CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin and Chinese premier Zhu Rongji in 1997.{{Cite book |last=Roach |first=Stephen S. |url= |title=Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives |date=2022 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26901-7 |location=New Haven |doi=10.12987/9780300269017 |jstor=j.ctv2z0vv2v |oclc=1347023475 |author-link=Stephen S. Roach}}{{Rp|page=215}} The "grasping the large and letting the small go" policy was adopted in September 1997 at the 15th Communist Party Congress. The "grasping the large" component indicated that policy-makers should focus on maintaining state control over the largest state-owned enterprises (which tended to be controlled by the central government).{{Rp|pages=215–216}}
Through "grasping the large", the state focused on developing a core group of large SOEs in strategically important fields deemed as part of the commanding heights of the economy.{{Rp|page=53}}
"Letting the small go" meant that the central government should relinquish control over smaller and unprofitable SOEs.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=David Daokui |title=China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict |date=2024 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393292398 |location=New York, NY |pages=116 |author-link=David Daokui Li}} Relinquishing control over these enterprises took a variety of forms: giving local governments authority to restructure the firms, privatizing them, or shutting them down.Barry Naughton, The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007), 301-302. Many small or medium-sized SOEs were allowed to go bankrupt.{{Cite book |last=Leutert |first=Wendy |title=China's State-Owned Enterprises: Leadership, Reform, and Internationalization |date=2024 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-48654-5 |edition= |series=Business and Public Policy Series |location=Cambridge}}{{Rp|page=53}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
- [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/jds/2003/00000039/00000004/art00002 'Letting Go of the Small': An Analysis of the Privatisation of Rural Enterprises in Jiangsu and Shandong] Samuel P.S. Ho; Paul Bowles; Xiaoyuan Dong. Source: Journal of Development Studies, Volume 39, Number 4, April 1, 2003, pp. 1–26(26)
- [http://wendang.baidu.com/view/721cb4c4aa00b52acfc7cad3.html 'Toward State Capitalism?] Muluan Wu. Source: Twenty-First Century, Volume 110,2008, pp. 24–35
{{Economy of China}}