The "grasping the large and letting the small go" policy (Chinese: 抓大放小; pinyin: Zhuā dà fàng xiǎo) was part of a wave of industrial reforms implemented by the central government of the People's Republic of China in 1996.
These reforms included efforts to corporatize state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and to downsize the state sector.
[1]: 215 The "grasping the large and letting the small go" policy was adopted in September 1997 at the 15th Communist Party Congress.
[1]: 215–216 "Letting the small go" meant that the central government should relinquish control over smaller and unprofitable SOEs.
[2] Relinquishing control over these enterprises took a variety of forms: giving local governments authority to restructure the firms, privatizing them, or shutting them down.