Final answer:
During the Deng era, China underwent economic reforms leading to a shift from communism to capitalism, including modernizations in various sectors and opening up to foreign investment. The Chinese move towards a socialist market economy resulted in improved standards of living.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Deng era included significant economic reforms that led to a shift from communism to capitalism. These reforms were based on the "Four Modernizations" which targeted agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology. Under Deng Xiaoping, China moved away from strict communist ideologies and practices, focusing on economic modernization and opening up to foreign investment.
Many of the state industries were given private management, although the largest ones remained under government control. Market-oriented reforms were introduced that included allowing entrepreneurs to start their own businesses and the establishment of a socialist market economy, which was a hybrid system combining elements of a planned economy with market mechanisms. These changes significantly improved the incomes and standard of living for many Chinese people.
The reforms in Eastern Europe during the 1990s mirrored these changes to some extent, with a shift from central planning and government-controlled economies to open markets and democratic systems. Deng's policies not only transformed China's internal economic structure but also impacted its foreign policy and relationships with other nations, like the Soviet Union and countries in Eastern Europe.