Reform and Opening Up in China

From 1978, Chinese leaders shifted away from the mass-mobilisation policies associated with the Mao era. Agricultural communes were dismantled through household contracting, enterprises received greater autonomy, and special economic zones opened parts of the country to foreign trade and investment.

Reform generated higher living standards and new consumer opportunities, but it also produced sharp inequality, migration, corruption and insecurity. Political authority remained concentrated in the Communist Party even as markets, private business and global connections transformed daily life.

In Big Breasts and Wide Hips, the reform era forms the last stage of a family history that began under the Qing. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out follows rural characters into the new market society, where old revolutionary identities compete with property, entrepreneurship and personal ambition.