The First Five-Year Plan refers to China's plan to develop the national economy from 1953 to 1957. This was formulated under the direct leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and presided over by Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun.

According to the requirements of the Party's general line in the transitional period, the basic tasks set in the "First Five-Year Plan" are: to concentrate the main forces on industrial construction centered on 156 construction projects designed by the Soviet Union and composed of 694 large and medium-sized construction projects, and to establish the initial foundation of socialist industrialization in China.

The development of agricultural production cooperatives with partial collective ownership will lay the foundation for the socialist transformation of agriculture and handicrafts, basically bring capitalist industry and commerce into the orbit of various forms of state capitalism, and lay the foundation for the socialist transformation of private industry and commerce.

Set the background

The 1950s was the most intense period of bipolar confrontation after World War II. With the gradual development of the Cold War, the contradiction between the Eastern bloc headed by the Soviet Union and the capitalist camp headed by the United States has intensified.

The two camps not only launched an all-round contest in political system and military strength, but also launched a fierce contest around two different economic development paths. During the First Five-Year Plan period, China was in the eastern camp and adopted a diplomatic strategy of "leaning one side".

The capitalist camp imposed political isolation, economic sanctions and military blockade on China, which resulted in China being unable to make full use of the capitalist camp's sufficient funds and advanced technology for economic construction compared with Japanese and Western European countries in the capitalist camp after the war.

On the other hand, the Soviet Union and some Eastern European countries actively supported China's economic construction in the form of funds and technical assistance, and the economic assistance of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe played an important role in the process of China's industrialization.