Economic Change : Some Impressions 85 comparable to the one that followed the disastrous Great Leap Forward of the late 1950s. But the dynamics of great societies are far too intricate to permit any clear-cut prognosis. All that one can say is that China can no longer revert to orthodox Marxism-Leninism; but where exactly the path it is now treading will take it remains uncertain. As the limitations of the market system to satisfy social — and socialist — needs become more apparent, the real fight for political and ideological supremacy will be joined. One has the uncomfortable feeling that that day may be closer than many believe. NOTES AND REFERENCES 1. Prof. Xue Muqiao, China s Socialist Economy, Revised Edition, The Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, China, 1986, p. l.This book, hereafter cited as C5£',was first published in 1981 and 'finalised in the spirit of the third plenary session'. 2. CS£',p.220. 3. The CASS Group for Studying the Experience of the Sixth Five-Year Plan, 'Economic Construction and Reform During the Sixth Five-Year Plan Period', Social Sciences in China, 2, 1986, p. 23— hereafter referred as CASS. 4. CASS, p. 25. 5. CASS, p. 24. 6. Quoted in China Today : 3 : Economic Readjustment and Reform, Beijing Review, Beijing, 1982, pp. 9-10 — hereafter cited as ER & R. 7. CSE, p. 166. 8. As quoted in CSf, pp. 153-54. 9. CSE.p. 155. 10. Ibid. 11. CSE.p. 138. 12. All agricultural land is collectively owned, but production could be the responsibility of collectives (formerly communes), production brigades or production teams — the last being the smallest grouping of a few peasant households. Brigades and teams have an obligation to deliver to the collective a specified quota of grain, cotton or oilseeds, and this obligation may be fulfilled either through own production or through purchases from others. Peasant households may transfer out of land by leasing their share of land to another household, or stay on land and specialise in the production of grains, cash crops, pigs, poultry, etc. It is these 'specialised households'which have been sensitised to market evaluation, and their production decisions are said to be responsive to price stimuli. 13. Restrictions on inter-provincial movements still exist. 14. CASS, p. 36. 15. Ibid. 16. CSE, p. 51. This proportion had apparently declined later. See Table 2. 17. CS£, p. 193. 18. ER&R, p. 22. 19. These figures were givan at the CASS seminar by Professor Xun Dazhi, Researcher, Institute of Economics, The State Planning Committee. 20. ER & R, p. 197. 21. ER iSrR^p. 198.