30 years transform China, but not its politics

BEIJING (AP) - Thirty years ago this month, China's communist leaders launched an economic revolution, opening the door to free market reforms and foreign trade - though not to political change.

The new era began with a Communist Party gathering on Dec. 18, 1978, that endorsed small-scale private farming, the first step toward abandoning the late leader Mao Zedong's vision of communal agriculture and industry.