... break with the policies of Mao, or is there some degree of continuity between pre- and post-1978 Chinese policy? It is this question which the rest of the essay is dedicated to answering. In so doing, the essay is divided into three sections that correspond with key sectors of pre- and post-1978 Chinese policy; agriculture, industry and foreign policy. AGRICULTURE The predominant aim of Mao's agricultural policy was collectivisation and regional self-reliance. However, the Soviet Union, who signed a friendship treaty with the Chinese in 1950 promising help and assistance with the socialist transformation of the PRC, believed, "collectivisation [is] only feasible when preceded by a sophisticated level of industrialisation capable of 'mechanising' the countryside" (Breth, 1977, p5). Thus, acknowledging their greater experience and lacking the necessary industrial base, Mao pursued a strategy of intermediate stages that would gradually lead to the socialisation of agriculture and the preeminence of communes within the countryside (Meisner, ...

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