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PARTISAN REVIEW
had been five years before.
The gains were much more pronounced for other groups. There were
the getihu, the small entrepreneurs whose stalls filled free markets and a
good many sidewalks, some of whom made enough money to be above
manning a stall. Some, indeed, owned motorcycles and patronized the better
restaurants. Of course, some also failed, though this side ofcapitalism did not
seem to be clear, and many assumed that to be an entrepreneur itself meant
to be wealthy. The employees ofjoint venture companies from hotels to
textile factories, and to electronics assembly plants, could earn at least double
the national average. Peasants had benefited largely from the right to raise
animals and to market some of their crops. There were also an increasing
number of millionaires; some of the senior managers in the growing "big
business" sector, such as the founders of the Stone Computer Corporation,
China's largest privately owned company, which even operated its own think
tank, had good salaries. Deng Ziaoping's slogan, "to get rich is glorious" had
not been ignored.
In the last two years, however, many of the gains had been eroded.
The economy had stagnated. Peasants had been paid for their main crops
(still purchased by the government) only partly in cash and partly in a not
immediately negotiable scrip. Inflation had eaten up much of the extra earn–
ings of urban workers. The implementation of market prices in some areas
and regulation in others was responsible for numerous imbalances. Lightbulbs
were in short supply, for example, because tungsten was sold at (relatively
high) market prices, while lightbulbs themselves had to be sold at a low
regulated price. In the countryside, the rush to purchase consumer goods had
reportedly slowed. The government scrip and consequent shortage of cash
was not the only reason. Peasants had also begun to save for traditional
purposes such as weddings and funerals. (In July 1989 the government
launched a crackdown on such practices, ostensibly because of their
"superstitious" religious foundations but also because of the economic impact
of keeping large amounts ofmoney out ofcirculation.)
Even though economic growth had brought problems with it, the stu–
dent and popular protest of the spring cannot be understood without noting
that economic gains were genuine. First, many of the popular complaints, in–
cluding most notably corruption, inflation, and inequities in income distribution,
were products of the economic reforms. Second, the economic changes helped
to open up other possibilities. Economic motives had helped to engender
growing Western influences through tourism (hard currency),joint ventures
(capital and technology), and education abroad (skills). Beyond this, economic
reforms had fueled a burgeoning market in publications, for example, and a
sense that opportunities to advance one's career were not limited to currying
