A modern, powerful China the legacy of Deng Xiaoping, born 120 years ago

It is no exaggeration to say that China would scarcely exist in its current form had not Deng Xiaoping launched the country on its path to reform and opening up at the third plenum of the Communist Party in 1978. Long credited as the architect of China’s market reforms, Deng started the country on a path to modernisation that helped transform it from one of the world’s least developed economies into the powerhouse it is today. All the more reason to mark Thursday, the 120th anniversary of Deng’s birth. Standing on a street in China today, it is hard to imagine just how alien a market economy would sound to the average Chinese in the late 1970s. The country had just emerged from a decade of chaos under Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. The economy was still centrally planned and the state controlled everything from workers’ wages to factory output and the price of products. Genuine private entrepreneurship had not existed since before the 1949 revolution. Rice, wheat, eggs and even bicycles were rationed, obtainable only with coupons issued by one’s local work unit, which provided lifetime jobs known as the “iron rice bowl”. The population was near 1 billion, hundreds of millions lived in poverty, just as many were illiterate and the education system was fractured by years of turmoil and neglect. China now is the world’s second largest economy, its private sector a powerful engine for growth. The population is 1.4 billion. Hundreds of millions were lifted out of poverty; the literacy rate is among the world’s highest – achievements that have no historical precedent. Challenges and transformation Having suffered political purges and witnessed the excesses and inefficiencies of the command economy, Deng championed reforms with a dogged pragmatism punctuated by a stubborn streak and a willingness to be flexible that amazed many, including in the West. Born in Sichuan province, Deng went to France to work and study, learned about Marxism and joined the Chinese Communist Party. Deng had a knack for plain-spokenness and an ability to explain the country’s ongoing challenges and transformation with enduring colloquialisms. Having set a clear direction at the plenum, Deng ushered in reforms to allow a private entrepreneurial class, shrugging off concerns about creeping capitalism by declaring “it doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice”. For Deng, it was fine to “let some people get rich first” as it would eventually help the country and lead to more Chinese becoming prosperous. And so a private business was registered in 1980 to mark the birth of China’s private sector. Special economic zones were established to kick-start growth in southern and coastal areas, the first one in Shenzhen. Joint ventures allowed foreign businesses to invest in China. At the time few in China had any experience with free enterprise or knew what a joint venture was. Ever the pragmatist, Deng declared that they would “cross the river by feeling the stones”, or figure it out as they went along. Stock markets followed in the 1990s in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Deng again shrugged off concerns, gave the markets a green light and said: “If they don’t work, we’ll shut them down.” After the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown there was heated debate in the party over whether to continue with the reforms. Some argued opening up had also allowed in unwanted Western influence. Deng ended the debate once and for all with his 1992 “Southern Tour” of Shenzhen, throwing his weight behind its success and setting the country firmly on the reform and opening path. ‘One country, two systems’ A strong supporter of science and technology, Deng sent Chinese students abroad to learn the subjects. He helped build a modern education system, bringing back compulsory education and reintroducing the national college entrance examinations, or gaokao. Deng’s influence on Hong Kong was no less significant. He was the architect of “one country, two systems”, originally with Taiwan in mind. He was paramount leader during the talks with Britain on the Hong Kong handover. Applied to the city, the unprecedented policy firmly kept Hong Kong an integral part of China while allowing it to enjoy a high degree of autonomy under its capitalist system as a special administrative region. This included retaining a common law system found nowhere on the mainland and helped bolster Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre. Its integration with nine mainland cities in Guangdong province and Macau to make up the Greater Bay Area is a logical extension of Deng’s policies. Facing a much changed economic and geopolitical landscape, President Xi Jinping is essentially deepening the reforms set in motion by Deng more than 45 years ago. Xi aims to shift the economy from its focus on traditional manufacturing to “high-quality” sectors, leveraging technology and efficiency. He also has emphasised Hong Kong’s need to play a leading role in hi-tech and quality development, praised its common law system and stressed the importance of one country, two systems for the city’s development. While Mao coined the phrase “seek truth from facts”, it was Deng who actually drove the pragmatic policies inherent in that maxim. China still has far to go to achieve the transformation that will help it break out of the middle-income trap and join the club of rich nations, but at this juncture it is worth reflecting on how far it has come, thanks to the foundation built by its diminutive leader from Sichuan.

A modern, powerful China the legacy of Deng Xiaoping, born 120 years ago

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Paramount leader launched country on reform path that transformed nation from among the world’s least developed to a global force

Paramount leader launched country on reform path that transformed nation from among the world’s least developed to a global force