Deng, who passed away on Feb. 19, 1997, is remembered as mainland China’s progenitor of the “reform and opening-up” policy that has lifted the mainland from abject poverty to prosperity. He is also remembered for his naked pragmatism, as epitomized in his “white cat, black cat” theory.

Purged three times by Mao Zedong as a “revisionist,” Deng survived to salvage the country from economic collapse after the death of Mao in 1976. He ditched communism in favor of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” — a euphemism for capitalism and market economy.

His reform and opening up, the mainland’s version of Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost, has changed the country inexorably and irrevocably. The economy has grown at an average annual rate of 9.8 percent since his policy was launched in 1978, with per capita GDP witnessing a tenfold increase to US$2,000 in 2006. In fact, Deng’s influence over the mainland is much greater than that of Mao, founder of the People’s Republic who is also blamed for the Great Cultural Revolution that pushed the mainland to the brink of destruction. Mao is remembered for poverty, while Deng is remembered for prosperity.

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click hereSharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 800 characters max

Receive China Post promos

Respond to this email