Editorial: 40 years after reforms, China is a U.S. friend — and maybe foe

One of the most consequential events of the past 40 years escaped attention when it happened on Dec. 22, 1978. Only years later would it become evident that China's decision at a Communist Party meeting to allow farmers to sell excess grain at market prices would reverberate - would, in fact, change the world.

On that day, other things were happening: President Jimmy Carter's administration reported progress on a nuclear arms treaty with the Soviet Union. Chicagoans learned that John Wayne Gacy had confessed to killing dozens of young men. Meanwhile in Beijing, party officials committed to a new policy of "reform