they were one of the poorest countries in the world back then (around $156 per capita gdp when the reforms were enacted), and the party decided they needed to allow the return of capital to develop their productive forces before having the appropriate conditions for socialism

bear in mind that allowing the return of capital (that is, the existence of capital and market forces within your country) is not the same as allowing the return of capitalism (which is a system like ours where capitalists wield actual decision-making power, something i’m sure even the critics of the CPC would agree is definitely not the case in china)

this is not a brand new take either, the basis of the whole thing is very similar to lenin’s NEP and i don’t see anyone here being skeptical about lenin’s motives

it’s also so weird to see people arguing whether china is a socialist or a capitalist country when it’s basically neither and they even admit it themselves - “socialism with chinese characteristics” is just their way of saying “we’re not a capitalist country, because capital isn’t making any key decisions on how the country works; but we haven’t reached the ideal point to transition into actual socialism either”, that’s what the “chinese characteristics” part is supposed to mean

(edit for a typo)