Editing Cultural Revolution (section)

===Repudiation and reform under Deng===
{{See also|Boluan Fanzheng|1978 Truth Criterion Controversy|Reforms and Opening Up}}
[[File:Deng Xiaoping.jpg|thumb|[[Deng Xiaoping]] became the [[Paramount Leader of China|paramount leader of China]] in 1978. He started the process of [[Reforms and Opening Up|reform and opening up]]|alt=]]

Deng Xiaoping first proposed what he called ''Boluan Fanzheng'' in September 1977 in order to correct the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Bradsher |first1=Keith |last2=Wellman |first2=William J. |date=2008-08-20 |title=Hua Guofeng, Transitional Leader of China After Mao, Is Dead at 87 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/world/asia/21hua.html |access-date=2022-03-16 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Barmé |first=Geremie R. |title=History for the Masses |url=http://www.morningsun.org/stages/history_for_the_masses.html |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=Morning Sun}}</ref>  In May 1978, Deng seized the opportunity to elevate his protégé [[Hu Yaobang]] to power. Hu published an article in the ''[[Guangming Daily (China)|Guangming Daily]]'', making clever use of Mao's quotations, while lauding Deng's ideas. Following this article, Hua began to shift his tone in support of Deng. On 1 July, Deng publicized Mao's self-criticism report of 1962 regarding the failure of the Great Leap Forward. As his power base expanded, in September Deng began openly attacking Hua Guofeng's "Two Whatevers".<ref name="Harding">{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=Harry |title=China's second revolution: reform after Mao |year=1987 |publisher=The Brookings Institution |isbn=978-0-8157-3462-8 |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> The "[[1978 Truth Criterion Controversy|1978 Truth Criterion Discussion]]", launched by Deng and Hu and their allies, also triggered a decade-long [[New Enlightenment (China)|New Enlightenment]] movement in mainland China, promoting democracy, [[humanism]] and universal values, while opposing the ideology of Cultural Revolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Xu |first=Jilin |author-link=Xu Jilin |date=December 2000 |title=The fate of an enlightenment: twenty years in the Chinese intellectual sphere (1978–98) |url=https://www.eastasianhistory.org/sites/default/files/article-content/20/EAH20_06.pdf |journal=East Asian History |publisher=[[Australian National University]] |issue=20 |pages=169–186}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Huaiyin |url=https://academic.oup.com/hawaii-scholarship-online/book/15223/chapter-abstract/169722777?redirectedFrom=fulltext |title=Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing |year=2012 |publisher=[[University of Hawaiʻi Press]] |isbn=9780824836085 |chapter=Challenging the Revolutionary Orthodoxy: 'New Enlightenment' Historiography in the 1980s}}</ref>

On 18 December 1978, [[3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee]] was held. Deng called for "a liberation of thoughts" and urged the party to "[[seek truth from facts]]" and abandon ideological dogma. The Plenum officially marked the beginning of the [[economic reform in the People's Republic of China|economic reform era]]. Hua Guofeng engaged in self-criticism and called his "Two Whatevers" a mistake. At the Plenum, the Party reversed its verdict on the Tiananmen Incident. Former Chinese president Liu Shaoqi was given a belated state funeral.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Legvold |first1=Robert |last2=Andrew |first2=Christopher |last3=Mitrokhin |first3=Vasili |year=2006 |title=The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World |journal=Foreign Affairs |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=158 |jstor=20031879 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref> Peng Dehuai, who was persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution was rehabilitated in 1978.

At the Fifth Plenum held in 1980, Peng Zhen, [[He Long]] and other leaders who had been purged during the Cultural Revolution were rehabilitated. Hu Yaobang became head of the [[Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party|party secretariat]] as its [[Secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party|secretary-general]]. In September, Hua Guofeng resigned, and [[Zhao Ziyang]], another Deng ally, was named [[Premier of the People's Republic of China|premier]]. Hua remained on the Central Military Commission, but formal power was transferred to a new generation of pragmatic reformers, who reversed Cultural Revolution policies to a large extent. Within a few years, Deng and Hu helped rehabilitate over 3&nbsp;million "unjust, false, erroneous" cases.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 June 1989 |script-title=zh:胡耀邦同志领导平反"六十一人案"追记 |url=http://www.hybsl.cn/zonghe/xinwen/2008-01-23/7141.html |access-date=17 February 2020 |website=www.hybsl.cn |publisher=[[People's Daily]] |language=zh |archive-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103094052/http://www.hybsl.cn/zonghe/xinwen/2008-01-23/7141.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> In particular, the trial of the Gang of Four took place in Beijing from 1980 to 1981, and the court stated that 729,511 people had been persecuted by the Gang, of whom 34,800 were said to have died.<ref>Sterba, James P. ''The New York Times'', 25 January 1981</ref>

In 1981, the Chinese Communist Party passed a resolution and declared that the Cultural Revolution was "responsible for the most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the Party, the country, and the people since the founding of the People's Republic."<ref name="PRC-2020">{{Cite web |script-title=zh:关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议 |url=http://www.gov.cn/test/2008-06/23/content_1024934_2.htm |access-date=23 April 2020 |website=The Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China |language=zh}}</ref><ref name="Wilson Center-1981">{{Cite web |date=27 June 1981 |title=Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China |url=https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/121344.pdf?v=d461ad5001da989b8f96cc1dfb3c8ce7 |website=Wilson Center}}</ref><ref name="CCCCP-11">{{Cite book |url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/index.htm |title=Resolution on CPC History |chapter=6th Plenary Session of the [[11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]] "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China." |access-date=2023-11-19 |via=www.marxists.org}}</ref>