The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Development Policy during the Period of the Third Five-Year Plan, 1966–1970

The third 5-year plan period was only to be started after the reverses suffered by the Chinese economy in the crisis years 1959–1961 had been largely overcome. As is now known, the third 5-year plan which was to comprise the years 1966 to 1970 had only been worked out as a rough outline. Sharp disputes had already broken out during its formulation over basic concept; a compromise solution was probably found shortly before the beginning of the plan period that seemed acceptable to both the protagonists of the strategy of the Great Leap and the advocates of a continuation of the strategy followed up until then.