The "grasping the large and letting the small go" policy (Chinese: 抓大放小; pinyin: Zhuā dà fàng xiǎo) was part of a wave of industrial reforms implemented by the central government of the People's Republic of China in 1996. These reforms included efforts to corporatize state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and to downsize the state sector.
The slogan and strategy were popularized by President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji in 1997.[1]: 215 The "grasping the large and letting the small go" policy was adopted in September 1997 at the 15th Communist Party Congress. The "grasping the large" component indicated that policy-makers should focus on maintaining state control over the largest state-owned enterprises (which tended to be controlled by the central government).[1]: 215–216
"Letting the small go" meant that the central government should relinquish control over smaller and unprofitable SOEs.[2] Relinquishing control over these enterprises took a variety of forms: giving local governments authority to restructure the firms, privatizing them, or shutting them down.[3]
See also
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edit- ^ a b Roach, Stephen S. (2022). Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives. New Haven: Yale University Press. doi:10.12987/9780300269017. ISBN 978-0-300-26901-7. JSTOR j.ctv2z0vv2v. OCLC 1347023475.
- ^ Li, David Daokui (2024). China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 116. ISBN 978-0393292398.
- ^ Barry Naughton, The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007), 301-302.
- 'Letting Go of the Small': An Analysis of the Privatisation of Rural Enterprises in Jiangsu and Shandong Samuel P.S. Ho; Paul Bowles; Xiaoyuan Dong. Source: Journal of Development Studies, Volume 39, Number 4, April 1, 2003, pp. 1–26(26)
- 'Toward State Capitalism? Muluan Wu. Source: Twenty-First Century, Volume 110,2008, pp. 24–35