June 1979 was a turning point for China. In the fast-moving world of today, one has to be careful in the use of catchphrases which can easily be invalidated when events of even greater import overtake them. Even so, the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress (NPC) may justly be regarded as a landmark in the brief post-Mao history of the People's Republic. Its significance pales, to be sure, when set against the T'ien An Men incident of April 1976, which gave the signal to the world that political and economic changes were in the making. Teng Hsiao-p'ing, deposed from all his posts as the main victim of that incident, emerged – fully rehabilitated – two years later as the chief architect of what can now legitimately be regarded as China's New Economic Policy. Of course, the foundation stone had been laid much earlier by the late Chou En-lai. Thus, as in the past, continuity and change were to live precariously side by side.