The Central Committee of the CCP elected Deng Xiaoping new Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, who implemented a program of "Reform and Opening": a series of policies aiming to modernize China through liberalization of state control over the economy and a new openness towards Western culture following decades of isolation.

Until late 1978, artists continued to create works under the wings of Social Realism, a style of Soviet-influenced realistic art promoted since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 that aimed to glorify communist values.