Antecedents of the open-door policy

Many elements of the open-door policy, including technology imports, foreign aid, loans and investment had been accepted in Mao's era. In the 1950s, China relied heavily on Soviet loans, technicians, turnkey projects and blueprints, and at least 150,000 Chinese technicians and workers were trained in the USSR. Joint stock companies with the USSR also existed.

The importance of maintaining an economic relationship with the capitalist world was not ignored in Mao's era. For example, China recognized the importance of maintaining ties with the capitalist world through Hong Kong, and left the colony in British hands in 1949 at a time when China could easily have taken it by force. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, China imported most of her strategic supplies from Hong Kong. Although the American-led United Nations trade embargo against China (after China's entry into the Korean War) prevented a rapid development of ties with the capitalist world, China continued to export to the capitalist world through Hong Kong. Chinese imports arriving via Hong Kong dwindled because of the United Nations trade embargo; nevertheless, significant quantities of strategic supplies were smuggled into China through Hong Kong.

After the Sino-Soviet rift of the early sixties, China became isolated. The much-publicized policy of self-reliance made a virtue out of necessity and was more in line with Mao's ideology. At a pragmatic level, China re-oriented her trade from the Soviet bloc to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and began to import complete industrial plants from Japan and Western Europe during the period 1962–65.