Wang Mengkui: A Large-scale Economic Investigation in the Early Stages of Reform and Opening-up
I. Shortly after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee [1], the CPC Central Committee decided on March 14, 1979, to establish the Financial and Economic Commission under the State Council (hereafter referred to as the "Finance and Economy Commission") as a decision-making body for researching guidelines and policies and handling major issues in financial and economic work. The Finance and Economy Commission was chaired by Chen Yun, with Li Xiannian as Vice Chairman and Yao Yilin as Secretary-General. On July 1, the Ninth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress formally approved this decision.
One of the major tasks undertaken by the Finance and Economy Commission following its establishment was to conduct in-depth investigation and research [2] based on the urgent needs of economic adjustment and economic reform. On June 27, 1979, Yao Yilin presided over a symposium at the West Building of Zhongnanhai [3] to study economic theory and financial policies. More than 30 heads of relevant central economic departments and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) attended. In effect, this was a mobilization meeting to formally launch the investigation and research work. Prior to this, Yao Yilin had already presided over several small-scale symposiums to prepare for this general meeting.
Yao Yilin stated that the Central Committee had proposed spending three years to complete the "adjustment, reform, rectification, and improvement" [4] of the national economy, primarily to overcome the current serious situation of structural imbalances. What we must consider now, he said, is to develop a general framework for economic reform through extensive and in-depth investigations, research, and pilot programs. Some comrades had suggested holding an "ideological retreat" (wuxuhui) [5] on economic theory. Comrades Hu Yaobang, Hu Qiaomu, Deng Liqun, and I have studied this issue; we feel that if we were to hold such a meeting now, participants would lack sufficient data and the problems to be studied would remain unclear. If held now, it is quite possible that we would fail to "abstract" (wu) a plan that is truly feasible in practical work and on which everyone can reach a consensus. Our opinion is to first conduct investigation, research, and pilot work, and to integrate those doing theoretical work with those doing practical work.
Based on the opinions from previous small-scale symposiums, Yao Yilin categorized this investigation and research into three major topics: the issue of the economic system; the issue of economic structure; and the issue of combining the introduction of technology, equipment, and capital with the utilization and transformation of existing enterprises, so as to modernize a group of existing enterprises first. Regarding the problems and improvement methods in these three areas, Yao Yilin shared some of his preliminary principled thoughts, emphasizing in particular the need to break through the ideological framework that "means of production are not commodities." To broaden employment opportunities, he noted, attention must be paid to developing individual industrial and commercial businesses. In addition to these three topics, he agreed to a suggestion made by Yu Guangyuan during the preparatory process to add research on economic theory and methodology. Thus, there were four major research topics, and four corresponding investigation and research groups were established.
The heads of each group were as follows: The Economic System Group (hereafter the "System Group") was led by Zhang Jinfu (Minister of Finance) and Fang Weizhong (Vice Minister of the State Planning Commission). After the meeting, Xue Muqiao (Advisor to the State Planning Commission and Director of its Economic Research Institute), Liao Jili (Member of the State Planning Commission), and Liu Mingfu (Director of the Institute of Finance and Trade of CASS) were added. The Economic Structure Group (hereafter the "Structure Group") was led by Ma Hong (Vice President of CASS and Director of the Institute of Industrial Economics) and Sun Youyu (Vice Minister of the First Ministry of Machine Building). The Research Group on Combining the Introduction of Technology, Equipment, and Capital with the Utilization and Transformation of Existing Enterprises (hereafter the "Introduction Group") was led by Wang Daohan (Deputy Head of the State Council Leading Group on Imports and Exports; from July 1979, he served as Vice Chairman of the State Import and Export Administration). The Economic Theory and Methodology Research Group (hereafter the "Theory Group") was led by Yu Guangyuan (Vice President of CASS and Director of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought).
To meet the urgent needs of economic adjustment and reform, the groups were required to produce their first batch of research results before the Spring Festival [6]. Yao Yilin announced that, henceforth, the convening of meetings for investigation and research work would be the responsibility of Deng Liqun, Zhang Jinfu, and Ma Hong.
The Finance and Economy Commission was a decision-making body and had no administrative office beneath it. However, because Yao Yilin was Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Committee and Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee while also serving as Secretary-General of the Finance and Economy Commission; and Deng Liqun was Deputy Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the General Office’s Research Office (which became the Research Office of the Central Secretariat after the Fifth Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee decided to re-establish the Secretariat in February 1980) while also serving as Vice President of CASS; and Ma Hong was Vice President of CASS and led several of its economic research institutes—this investigation and research effort was presided over by Yao Yilin, with the primary organizational work handled by Deng Liqun and Ma Hong. Specific organizational coordination and secretarial work, such as synthesizing data, were undertaken by the Economic Section of the Research Office of the General Office. This Economic Section also performed some independent specialized research within its capacity. In order to provide timely feedback to central leaders, relevant central departments, and leaders of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, and to facilitate communication between the various research groups, the Economic Section founded an internal publication titled Research Materials on Economic Issues. The inaugural issue published Yao Yilin’s speech at the June 27 symposium, titled "Work Together with One Heart to Do a Good Job in the Investigation and Research of Economic Reform."
The Research Office of the General Office was a newly established institution after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee. I was transferred into it during its early stages from the Research Office of the First Ministry of Machine Building. Initially, the staff at the Research Office was very small; the Economic Section had only four or five people. In addition to the work for this investigation and research activity, there were other tasks. With few people and many tasks, everyone was very busy. I participated in the two general meetings presided over by Yao Yilin and several briefing sessions for the heads of the research groups presided over by Deng Liqun and Ma Hong (Zhang Jinfu was busy and rarely attended). I organized and edited drafts for Research Materials on Economic Issues and had work contacts with all the research groups. Because of this personal experience, my impressions are quite deep; today, more than 40 years later, I can still retain some memories of these investigation and research activities. Yet, after so many years, the preservation of materials is incomplete, and my memory of some events has become blurred.
II. Following the June 27 meeting, all four research groups held several meetings to quickly convey and implement the spirit of the meeting, organize their teams, formulate research plans, and begin preliminary discussions on substantive issues. Everyone actively supported the Finance and Economy Commission’s organization of such a large-scale investigation, believing it to be of significant importance for the current economic adjustment and for ensuring the smooth progress of reform, opening up, and modernization. Deng Liqun and Ma Hong presided over several briefing sessions for the research group heads to exchange information and supplement or revise the research plans and topics.
On July 19, Yao Yilin presided over the second meeting on investigation and research work, which Li Xiannian and Bo Yibo attended and addressed. Fifty to sixty people attended, including responsible comrades from relevant central economic departments and CASS, as well as participating economists. The four research groups reported on their work over the previous period and their plans for the next step.
Fang Weizhong reported that the System Group had met three times to discuss research arrangements. The issue of the [economic] system had long been a chronic and difficult problem that no one dared to touch; now that the Central Committee has shown resolve and the Finance and Economy Commission is providing unified leadership, there is hope to get the reform moving. There is a fairly consistent understanding of the flaws in the current system, but while there have been some preliminary discussions on what kind of system should be implemented, there is no complete vision yet. The research work is planned in two stages: August, September, and October will focus on drafting a plan for minor reforms to be implemented next year; after December, large-scale reform plans will be studied. Since the system issue involves the overall situation, 14 relevant ministries, commissions, and bureaus of the State Council will respectively take the lead in organizing 13 research sub-groups for specialized and comprehensive studies. These were: The Planning System Group (led by the State Planning Commission), the Industrial System Group (led by the State Economic Commission), the Agricultural System Group (led by the State Agricultural Commission), the Capital Construction System Group (led by the State Capital Construction Commission), the Commercial System Group (led by the Ministry of Commerce), the Foreign Trade System Group (led by the Ministry of Foreign Trade), the Fiscal and Financial System Group (led by the Ministry of Finance), the Science and Technology System Group (led by the State Science and Technology Commission), the Culture, Education, and Health System Group (led by the Ministries of Education, Culture, and Health), the Materials System Group (led by the General Administration of Materials), the Price System Group (led by the General Administration of Prices), the Labor and Wage System Group (led by the General Administration of Labor), and the Comprehensive Group (led by the State Planning Commission). Each sub-group was to include comrades from both the central and local levels, from economic operational departments, and from theoretical research units. Particular attention was to be paid to listening to the opinions of enterprises, making enterprises the focus of investigation. Organized under a unified deployment, groups would operate, propose reform plans, and hold collective discussions; the Comprehensive Group would be responsible for coordination and aggregation, proposing a master plan and vision.
Ma Hong reported on the work plan of the Structure Group, stating that this investigation of the economic structure was intended to clarify the history of China’s economic structure and its current main problems, and to propose suggestions for constructing a rational economic structure. Research would be conducted on industrial structure, technological structure, economic organization structure, ownership structure, the structure of production versus imports/exports, employment structure, investment structure, regional and urban-rural structure, price structure, and the structure of accumulation versus consumption, as well as an overall study. The current focus of the investigation was on agriculture, light industry, the steel industry, the machinery manufacturing industry, and the petrochemical industry (which spans agriculture, light industry, and heavy industry), as well as the relationship between accumulation and consumption, with specialized discussions held with relevant departments and localities. During August, September, and October, in conjunction with the compilation of the three-year economic adjustment plan, a transitional economic structure reform plan would first be proposed. Regarding the organization of the research, eight research sub-groups would be established by the State Planning Commission, the State Economic Commission, the State Capital Construction Commission, the State Agricultural Commission, the State Science and Technology Commission, the State Council Finance and Trade Group, and the National Defense Industry Office, respectively, to conduct specialized research on relevant structural issues. One person would be designated from each of these departments and from several economic research institutes of CASS to form a secretariat, responsible for coordinating the work of the sub-groups and departments, and for data synthesis and comprehensive research. An "Economic Modeling Group" would also be established to apply systems engineering methods to the study of economic structure and to propose various economic models and plans for comparison and selection.
Wang Daohan reported that the Introduction Group had invited relevant departments for technical-economic management and scientific research information to several medium-sized meetings to discuss the tasks, scope, organization, and methods of the research. They were also preparing to establish the World Economics Association. An investigation liaison center was being set up, which would also serve as a database. They were drafting several legal drafts in cooperation with relevant units, including the Foreign Exchange Management Law and the Joint Venture Registration Law; the most difficult were the Company Law of the People's Republic of China and the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China. A general survey of the current status and problems of import work had already begun. The scope of the investigation was divided into several major categories: foreign investment, technology transfer, and management methods of multinational corporations and consortia; the utilization of foreign capital, including sources, interest rates, maturities, scope of application, and preferential conditions; laws and articles of association concerning joint ventures; channels and methods for expanding exports and the composition of exports; and an investigation of equipment already imported and projects currently being imported. The investigation was divided among six sub-groups: comprehensive, joint ventures, technology introduction, import and export, legal regulations, and modernization of operations and management. Comprehensive research was composed of the CASS Institutes of World Economics and Industrial Economics, the Ministry of Foreign Trade’s Institute of International Trade, the Central Bank’s Institute of Finance, the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Information, as well as the Technology Import Corporation and the Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Specialized research would be organized by relevant departments and regions based on their own situations. Since many matters were currently unclear, they planned to publish readings on international economic cooperation, international finance, and trade. Based on feedback from ambassadors abroad—who noted that study tours were poorly prepared, repetitive, and met with perfunctory responses from foreigners—Wang Daohan suggested formulating a protocol for overseas study tours. He said: "‘If you do not enter the tiger’s den, how can you catch the tiger’s cub?’ [7] But once you enter the den, it is not enough to just grab a few pieces of tiger fur."
Yu Guangyuan reported that the Theory Group had held several symposiums and intended to focus on the "theory of socialist economic goals." This means planning and arranging production based on "final products," using the maximum possible increase in final products as the fundamental criterion for measuring the success of social economic work. Relatedly, they would study socialist planning theory, market theory, the theory of production regulation, population and employment theory, and issues in economic research and methodology. Yu Guangyuan proposed strengthening quantitative concepts and applying mathematical methods in economic research and work. They also prepared to hold lectures on foreign economics and to standardize some popular economic terms. When Yu Guangyuan mentioned mobilizing more university teachers to participate in theoretical research, Li Xiannian said: "Correct, and we must also absorb scientific and technical personnel."
After the four research groups reported, Bo Yibo and Li Xiannian spoke, expressing support and encouragement for the investigation work and discussing the reform of the economic system based on their own long-term experience in leading economic work.
Bo Yibo stated: "That the Finance and Economics Commission has organized comrades engaged in practical work and those engaged in theoretical work to conduct a large-scale investigation and research ( [8] diàochá yányiū) into major issues such as economic reform, economic structure, and imports is perhaps a pioneering feat in our Party's history. In the past, when the issue of the economic system was raised, we always circled around the relationship between the Center and the localities, or centralization and decentralization. When centralization became excessive, everyone would complain about 'departmental dictatorship' [9] and find it unbearable; so, things were decentralized. This happened several times in history. But after decentralization, things could not be unified and fell into disorder, so they were centralized again. Now, proposing the expansion of enterprise autonomy and the combination of planned regulation with market regulation touches upon the very essence of the systemic problem."
Li Xiannian said: "To realize modernization, we must produce complete materials; we simply cannot do without serious investigation and research. Everyone says the First Five-Year Plan was good, but was it really so perfect? In fact, at that time, the principal leaders in various localities were busy with the Three Great Transformations [10] and could not devote their full energy to economic construction. I was in a provincial post then; regardless of whether things were centralized, what I thought about was the General Line for the Transition Period [11], the Three Great Transformations, and the implementation of the Marriage Law. Later, when we engaged in construction, we said we had to learn from the Soviet Union; we lacked experience then, so we had to learn. What about now? Soviet methods are like 'smelly tofu'—they smell foul but taste savory—because you haven't produced any new methods yet. I once said a phrase: 'unify without stifling, revitalize without causing chaos' [12]. It's easy to say, but hard to do; it remains a cycle of 'stifling upon unification, and chaos upon revitalization.' Currently, there are many problems, especially after so many years of upheaval; the problems are truly piled high. Political, ideological, systemic, and import-related problems are numerous in every aspect; we must conduct comprehensive investigation and research. We place great hope in this large-scale, organized, planned, and focused investigation."
Yao Yilin expressed approval of the work plans for each research group. Thereafter, the research work of each group generally proceeded according to the plans reported at this meeting. While several coordination meetings for the heads of the research groups were held later, no further large-scale plenary meetings of this kind were convened.
III.
To ensure the quality and progress of the research, the four research groups organized elite "direct detachments," totaling 369 people: 150 in the System Group, 66 in the Structure Group, 123 in the Import Group, and 30 in the Theoretical Group. The so-called "direct detachments" referred to those under the direct command of each research group who were detached from their daily duties to participate full-time in research activities. This did not include those temporarily seconded for short-term specific research, those invited to symposiums to offer opinions, or individuals providing oral or written suggestions. Thus, the actual number of participants was much higher. Research activities were conducted independently by each group. The meetings chaired by Yao Yilin on June 27 and July 19 mentioned earlier were only attended by the heads of the four groups, relevant departments, and a small number of core professional staff; no plenary assembly of all 369 "direct detachment" members was ever held.
Although the Finance and Economics Commission did not publicly announce the organization of this investigation and research, it was not actually a secret, as many people from various departments participated and traveled to localities and enterprises. On August 8, Deng Liqun disclosed news of the investigation at a national conference on prices and wages. On September 3, the Xinhua News Agency broadcast a detailed report on these research activities, which appeared in newspapers the following day. Subsequently, more cadres from practical economic departments, professional theorists, and university teachers expressed their desire to participate, taking the initiative to contact the research groups; some even provided written recommendations on related issues. The Economics Group of the Research Office of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee ( [13] Zhōngbàn Yánjiūshì) summarized the progress since late June in a document titled "The Status of Investigation and Research on Economic Issues and Major Problems Raised," authored under the pseudonym "Yan Jin," and published it in the October 6 issue of Research Materials on Economic Issues to inform all parties.
Leaders of the central finance and economics departments attached great importance to the research activities. In addition to actively supporting and participating in the Commission's groups, the departments of industry, transport, finance and trade, agriculture, forestry, and water conservancy all established their own research groups, led personally by department heads to investigate issues within their respective sectors. Qian Zhengying, Minister of Water Conservancy, personally convened a meeting to arrange the work, stating that if a minister does not personally participate in investigation and research, they will have no right to speak in professional leadership work henceforth.
After news of the investigation spread, many provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities also actively launched investigations into their local economic problems, some even issuing special documents. In Heilongjiang Province, Provincial Party Secretary Yang Yichen served as the head of the leadership group for investigation and research, with Governor Chen Lei as deputy head; other secretaries and standing committee members were assigned responsibilities based on their functional systems, and heads of relevant departments were required to take personal charge, mobilizing elite forces to form research teams. The Commission's research groups received active support and cooperation when visiting localities and enterprises. The System Group identified 75 research topics and the Import Group identified 37 for local reference, and localities provided a wealth of practical materials.
This large-scale investigation and research directly served economic development and reform and opening up, and was integrated with the economic adjustment then underway. The findings, opinions, and suggestions of the research groups were reported to the Commission in a timely manner and exchanged with economic departments, providing a reference for decision-making. Since the research involved the direct participation of administrative departments and a close integration of practitioners and theorists, many suggestions were highly actionable. The Research Office of the General Office's study on the proportional relationship between accumulation and consumption [14] caught the attention of Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, and Li Xiannian. On March 19, 1980, during a discussion with Hu Yaobang, Hu Qiaomu, and Deng Liqun regarding the drafting of the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic and the formulation of long-term plans, Deng Xiaoping said: "The Research Office of the General Office recently produced a piece of material titled 'Exploring Our Country's Rational Accumulation Rate through Historical Experience,' which is very good. They believe an accumulation rate of 25% of national income is appropriate. The lesson from the past is that it was too high, reaching a peak of 43.8%; we always thought the higher the accumulation rate, the faster the speed of construction. In our current long-term planning, we will set the accumulation rate at 25%." Chen Yun and Li Xiannian agreed with Deng’s opinion. The economic adjustment and the formulation of the Sixth Five-Year Plan at the time were directed toward this goal.
After repeated discussions and soliciting opinions, the System Group drafted the "Preliminary Opinions on the General Conception of Economic System Reform" on December 3, 1979, which was distributed to the National Planning Conference to solicit opinions on a broader scale. On December 15, Zhang Jinfu delivered an explanation of these "Preliminary Opinions" at the conference. Zhang Jinfu noted that there was much discussion regarding the direction of economic system reform, which could be summarized into three conceptions: first, centralized management primarily by central ministries, with appropriate expansion of local and enterprise authority; second, management primarily by provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities under unified central leadership; and third, the one proposed by the System Group—following the requirements of large-scale socialized production, breaking down boundaries between departments and regions, organizing specialized and joint companies, managing the economy primarily through economic means, combining planned regulation with market regulation, expanding enterprise autonomy under the guidance of state plans, and dividing central and local authority according to the characteristics of various economic undertakings. The "Preliminary Opinions" emphasized that in choosing the direction of reform, we must absorb all beneficial foreign experiences and, more importantly, study the socio-economic characteristics of China's current stage and the main problems in the existing system to explore a management system suited to China's national conditions. At the start of their work, the System Group proposed that while the focus was on fundamental reform of the management system, the immediate task was to solve the question of how to reform during the three-year economic adjustment period—keeping the "large reform" in sight while starting with "small reforms," ensuring the direction is accurate and the pace is steady. Based on these principles, the "Preliminary Opinions" proposed that during the adjustment period, we should actively pilot the expansion of enterprise autonomy and the organization of companies; in the near term, we should organize pilot cross-industry and cross-regional companies, such as petroleum, tobacco, and silk companies. Reforms that were clearly understood—such as the paid use of fixed assets, full credit for circulating funds, bank loans for some infrastructure investments, and corporate-style management for some public institutions—should be actively promoted. Several regulations issued by the State Council at that time regarding the expansion of enterprise and local authority incorporated the advice provided by the research groups. According to a report by the State Economic Commission, from 1979 to the end of June 1980, the number of pilot enterprises in the national industrial sector (excluding the military industry) reached over 6,600, accounting for about 16% of the number of industrial enterprises within the state budget, roughly 60% of output value, and 70% of profits; among them, profits from pilot enterprises in Shanghai and Tianjin reached over 80%, and in Beijing as high as 94%.
Although Chen Yun, Li Xiannian, and Deng Xiaoping had spoken since 1979 about "combining the planned economy with the market," and Bo Yibo also mentioned this at the June 27 symposium, these remained principled formulations regarding the economic system. The "Preliminary Opinions" provided by the System Group was the first relatively complete program to use the "combination of planned economy and market regulation" as a target model. This was a crucial step in the transition from a planned economic system toward a socialist market economy.
IV.
After the Fifth Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the CPC Central Committee decided on March 17, 1980, to establish the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group to take charge of economic work; the Finance and Economics Commission was abolished accordingly. The investigation and research organized by the Commission had completed its designated tasks and thus came to a natural conclusion. The System Group was transformed into the Office of System Reform under the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group, which in May became the basis for the State Council Office of Restructuring the Economic System. The work of the Import Group was taken over by the State Import and Export Administration—its research had always been under the direct leadership of the relevant authorities, starting with the State Council Import and Export Leading Group, which was abolished in July 1979 and replaced by the State Import and Export Administration, with Wang Daohan continuing to preside over the research as a Vice Minister. The Structure and Theoretical groups were disbanded, and their personnel moved into regular investigation and research work. The Research Office of the General Office became the Research Office of the Central Secretariat, and its Economics Group continued to edit and issue Research Materials on Economic Issues. Incidentally, during the period of investigation and research, this internal publication [15] released 50 issues. Because its content met the needs of economic adjustment and reform, and because internal publications were few and communication channels were not yet bridgeable, it received great attention and even became a trail for discovering talent. On February 21, 1980, Deng Xiaoping wrote a comment to Vice Premiers Yu Qiuli, Yao Yilin, Gu Mu, and Kang Shien on an article titled "Some Understandings and Suggestions on the Modernization of the Metallurgical Industry" by Zhou Chuandian, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Office of the Ministry of Metallurgy: "Please pay attention to this material. As for comrades like Zhou Chuandian, how they should be utilized should also be considered." Chen Yun said: All sectors, including industry, transport, and finance, must have people like Zhou Chuandian in leadership. Zhou Chuandian was appointed Vice Minister of Metallurgy in July 1980. At the time, the "Four Transformations" [16] of cadres (making them more revolutionary, younger, better educated, and more professionally competent) was being implemented, and this material provided a typical example. Considering that Research Materials on Economic Issues had a small print run and limited distribution, to meet the needs of more people researching economic issues, I contacted the China Financial and Economic Publishing House to compile the materials from 1979 to 1985 into five volumes. Using the same title, they were published for "internal distribution" [17], with a brief "Editor’s Note" written by me. But that is a later story.
This large-scale investigation and research organized by the Finance and Economics Commission lasted over eight months, from late June 1979 to mid-March 1980. It was the largest and longest-running concentrated economic investigation in the early period of reform and opening up. This investigation, conducted through the close cooperation of practical economic workers and economic theorists, carried forward the fine style of integrating theory with practice, liberating the mind, and seeking truth from facts. It further clarified the history and current state of social and economic development since the founding of the People’s Republic, summarized experiences and lessons, and gained a greater understanding of foreign conditions. This provided important opinions and suggestions for the economic adjustment and the start of economic reform at the time; from a long-term perspective, it further clarified China’s "family assets" ( [18] jiādǐ), leading to a more sober and comprehensive understanding of the national conditions. This was a foundational task for building socialism with Chinese characteristics starting from China’s actual conditions. Certain research methods, such as economic mathematics, systems engineering, and economic modeling, began to be more widely popularized and applied as a result of this investigation. Knowledge of international economics and general economics also began to spread from this point.
One contribution of this investigative research activity to institutional building was the formal integration of policy research and consultation into the economic decision-making mechanism. Shortly after the conclusion of these investigative activities, the State Council successively established the Economic Research Center, the Technological-Economic Research Center, and the Price Research Center; these three centers were later merged to form the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC). Many departments and localities also established similar organizations. The establishment of these types of policy research and consulting institutions, characterized by the deep participation of professionals, served as an impetus for making decision-making more scientific [19] and institutionalized.
(Author’s affiliation: Development Research Center of the State Council) Source: Bainian Chao [20], Issue 6, 2025 Internet Editor: Jing Mu