CCP elder who designed China's socialist economic system with his 'bird-cage economy' concept
'The cage is the plan, and within it the bird [the economy] is free to fly as it wishes.' — 1982, formalizing his core vision of the market-plan relationship
A core figure in both the first and second generations of CCP leadership, Chen Yun was the architect of China's socialist economic construction. Starting as a typesetter at the Shanghai Commercial Press, he immersed himself in the labor movement, and through the Long March and the Yan'an Rectification Movement became Mao Zedong's trusted advisor as head of the CCP Organization Department. After 1949, as chairman of the Central Finance and Economic Commission, he drafted the First Five-Year Plan, stabilized prices, and, following the collapse of the Great Leap Forward, led economic reconstruction alongside Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. In the 1980s he formalized the 'bird-cage economy' (the market must fly freely within the cage of the plan) and became the second-most powerful figure in China after Deng, a gravitational center for Party conservatives moderating the pace of reform.
Career Timeline
- 1925Led labor strikes at Shanghai Commercial Press; joined CCP after May Thirtieth Movement
- 1931–1934Central Committee and Politburo member; Long March; attended Zunyi Conference
- 1937–1944Head of CCP Organization Department; key role in Yan'an Rectification Movement
- 1949–1954Chairman, Central Finance and Economic Commission; Vice Premier; drafted First Five-Year Plan
- 1956–1962Vice Chairman of CCP Central Committee; led post-Great Leap economic reconstruction
- 1978–1987First Secretary, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection; Chairman, Central Advisory Commission — shaped early reform as leading conservative
- 1987–1992Chairman, Central Advisory Commission; gravitational center of Party conservatives