Four Modernizations

The core of a development strategy aimed at turning the country into a relatively advanced industrialized nation by the year 2000. The modernizations are those of agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defense. The concept was embodied first in the Third Five-Year Plan (1966-70), launched in earnest by Zhou Enlai at the Fourth National People’s Congress (1975), and adopted as the official party line at the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee (December 1978).