The "grasping the large and letting the small go" (Chinese:抓大放小;pinyin:Zhuā dà fàng xiǎo) is aChinese Communist Party slogan to describe a wave of industrialreforms implemented by thegovernment of the People's Republic of China in 1996. These reforms included efforts tocorporatizestate-owned enterprises (SOEs) and to downsize thestate sector.
The slogan and strategy were popularized byGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)Jiang Zemin andChinese premierZhu Rongji in 1997.[1]: 215 The "grasping the large and letting the small go" policy was adopted in September 1997 at the15th CCP Congress.[2]: 34 The "grasping the large" component indicated thatpolicy-makers should focus on maintaining state control over the largest state-owned enterprises (which tended to be controlled by the central government).[1]: 215–216
Through "grasping the large", the state focused on developing a core group of large SOEs in strategically important fields deemed as part of thecommanding heights of the economy.[3]: 53
"Letting the small go" meant that the central government should relinquish control over smaller and unprofitable SOEs.[4] Relinquishing control over these enterprises took a variety of forms: givinglocal governments authority to restructure the firms,privatizing them, or shutting them down.[5] Many small or medium-sized SOEs were allowed to go bankrupt.[3]: 53
Following this policy, one thousand large SOEs received government subsidies and support with the goal of making them intonational champions.[2]: 35 Among the prominent examples isBaowu Steel Group, which was formed through the merger of several smaller steel enterprises.[2]: 35
