The Socialist Market Economy
A socialist market economy is inseparable from a basic socialist system. Effective alignment of the two, so as to fully leverage the socialist system and tap the potential of market mechanisms in resource allocation, is key to developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is also key to China's economic achievements since the rollout of reform and opening up. Over the past four decades, economic structural reform has been a gradual process of developing a socialist market economy, a process that has gone through stages of testing, implementation and continuous improvement. It is a process focusing on rationalizing the relationship between the government and the market.
Establishing a socialist market economy is a natural result of China's reform and opening up, and a major outcome of exploring new theories on Chinese socialism. Following the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in late 1978, the country embarked on a journey of reform and opening up, which was also a process of market-oriented reform. The Resolution on Some Historical Questions of the Party Since the Founding of the PRC, adopted at the sixth plenary session in 1981, proposed the guideline of "building a planned economy supplemented by market regulation." As the idea of respecting and obeying the law of value in economic activities gained a wider foothold, economic activities were channeled into the mainstream of a commodity economy. On this basis, the 13th CPC National Congress in 1987 advocated that a socialist planned commodity economy should be a system combining a planned economy and the market.
In 1992, the 14th CPC National Congress affirmed that the objective of China's economic structural reform was to build a socialist market economy. This move showed that the Party had incorporated the concept of market economy into socialism. A related decision was adopted by the 14th CPC Central Committee at its third plenary session in 1993. The ensuing 20 years witnessed ongoing attempts to find the right balance in the relationship between the government and the market.
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013 emphasized the market's decisive role in resource allocation and the importance of improving the functions of the government. These policy adjustments pointed to the fact that the key to further economic structural reform remained the correct balance in the relationship between the government and the market. The 19th CPC National Congress in 2017 required accelerating the improvement of the socialist market economy. At its fifth plenary session held in 2020, the 19th CPC Central Committee reaffirmed its commitment to fully leveraging the decisive role of the market in allocating resources and giving better play to the role of the government to ensure better alignment between an efficient market and a well-functioning government.
Today China has established a sound socialist market economy, a system never tried before, and a concept never proposed in economic classics anywhere in the world. This makes it a unique creation of the CPC, and also a successful experiment in building Chinese socialism.
社会主义市场经济体制
社会主义市场经济体制是同社会主义基本制度结合在一起的。实现社会主义基本制度与市场经济的有机结合，把社会主义的制度优势和市场经济配置资源的优势都发挥好，是坚持和发展中国特色社会主义一项极其重要的内容，也是改革开放以来中国经济发展获得巨大成功的一个关键因素。40多年来，中国经济体制改革最主要的内容就是社会主义市场经济体制从探索到建立再到不断完善的过程，其核心是理顺政府与市场的关系。
建立社会主义市场经济体制，是中国共产党领导下的中国改革开放实践的必然结果，也是改革开放以来中国特色社会主义理论探索的重要成果。以1978年中共十一届三中全会的召开为标志，中国走上改革开放的道路，实际上就是开启了以市场为取向的改革。1981年中共十一届六中全会通过的《关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议》提出“以计划经济为主，市场调节为辅”的理论。按照尊重和利用价值规律的要求来进行经济活动已开始成为人们的共识，现实经济活动也逐步纳入了真正意义上的商品经济的发展轨道。在此基础上，1987年中共十三大提出，社会主义有计划商品经济的体制应该是计划与市场内在统一的体制。
1992年中共十四大提出中国经济体制改革的目标是建立社会主义市场经济体制，这标志着中国共产党把市场经济写在了社会主义的旗帜上。1993年，中共十四届三中全会通过了《中共中央关于建立社会主义市场经济体制若干问题的决定》。此后20多年时间里，中国一直在根据实践寻找政府和市场关系新的科学定位。2013年中共十八届三中全会提出，使市场在资源配置中起决定性作用，更好发挥政府作用，这说明全面深化经济体制改革的核心问题仍然是处理好政府和市场的关系。2017年中共十九大进一步对加快完善社会主义市场经济体制提出要求。2020年中共十九届五中全会进一步明确，要坚持和完善社会主义基本经济制度，充分发挥市场在资源配置中的决定性作用，更好发挥政府作用，推动有效市场和有为政府更好结合。
经过不断探索和努力，中国已经建立起比较完善的社会主义市场经济体制。这是一种史无前例的体制，也是中外经济学经典中从来没有过的一个概念。正因如此，社会主义市场经济体制不仅是中国共产党领导下中国特色社会主义的一次重大理论和实践创新，也是中国特色社会主义道路探索中的一个伟大创举。