section_path: Background/Boluan Fanzheng and economic reforms
section_name: Boluan Fanzheng and economic reforms
paragraph_text: Boluan Fanzheng and economic reforms
  
  The Cultural Revolution ended with chairman Mao Zedong 's death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four. That movement, spearheaded by Mao, had caused severe damage to the country's initially diverse economic and social fabric. As a result, the country was now mired in poverty as economic production slowed or came to a halt. Political ideology was paramount in the lives of ordinary people as well as the inner workings of the party itself.
  
  In September 1977, Deng Xiaoping proposed the idea of Boluan Fanzheng ("bringing order out of chaos") to correct the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution. At the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee, in December 1978, Deng emerged as China's de facto leader. He launched a comprehensive programme to reform the Chinese economy (Reforms and Opening-up). Within several years, the country's focus on ideological purity was replaced by a concerted attempt to achieve material prosperity.
  
  To oversee his reform agenda, Deng promoted his allies to top government and party posts. Zhao Ziyang was named Premier, the head of government, in September 1980, and Hu Yaobang became CCP General Secretary in 1982.
  
  The Cultural Revolution ended with chairman Mao Zedong 's death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four. That movement, spearheaded by Mao, had caused severe damage to the country's initially diverse economic and social fabric. As a result, the country was now mired in poverty as economic production slowed or came to a halt. Political ideology was paramount in the lives of ordinary people as well as the inner workings of the party itself.
  
  In September 1977, Deng Xiaoping proposed the idea of Boluan Fanzheng ("bringing order out of chaos") to correct the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution. At the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee, in December 1978, Deng emerged as China's de facto leader. He launched a comprehensive programme to reform the Chinese economy (Reforms and Opening-up). Within several years, the country's focus on ideological purity was replaced by a concerted attempt to achieve material prosperity.
  
  To oversee his reform agenda, Deng promoted his allies to top government and party posts. Zhao Ziyang was named Premier, the head of government, in September 1980, and Hu Yaobang became CCP General Secretary in 1982.