Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997)

Life after Mao

Mao as Ruler

• A Soviet model of economic development• Liberating and oppressing the masses• Utopian dreams and disasters

– Great Leap Forward 1958-61– Cultural Revolution 1966-mid 1970s

• The “Gang of Four”: Ultra-radical faction gains power in mid 1970s.

• Mao’s death, 1976

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1967 Cultural Revolution poster: Caption reads: “Smash the Old World/Establish a New World”. Worker is crushing a Buddha, a crucifix and classical Chinese texts.

Jiang Qing

Jiang Qing, one of the Gang of Four, was the wife of Mao Zedong. She dominated the Chinese arts in the mid 1970s and molding them to her extremist ideology.

Deng: Making a Communist Bureaucrat

• Grows up in well-off family in Sichuan Province (southwestern China)

• To France 1920-26 for work/study education program: "To learn knowledge and truth from the West in order to save China." – The 1500 Chinese students sent to France for this program

bred many of the leading Chinese revolutionaries in later years.

– Works in factories, including Renault plant near Paris: “The bitterness of life and the humiliating treatment by foremen or capitalist running dogs had exerted a deep impact upon me.”

Deng: Making a Communist Bureaucrat

• To USSR and “Communist University of Toilers of the East” 1926-27

• Back to China, participates in the Long March of 1934-36, rises in the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party– At right: Deng in 1941

• In Communist regime under Mao Zedong, Deng is pragmatic more than ideological.

Deng Xiaoping Purged• At start of China’s Cultural Revolution, Deng is exiled to

work in a tractor factory.• Returns to influential position in 1974 but in 1976 is

attacked again and loses party leadership role.

1967 Cultural Revolution poster slogan: "Thoroughly pulverize the Liu-Deng reactionary line!“ [Liu was another moderate leader who was purged.]

Deng Regains Power• Drawing on contacts in the

Communist leadership and disillusionment with radical failures, Deng climbed back to power in the late 1970s

• He pushed for the “Four Modernizations”—agriculture, industry, defense and technology– Poster caption: “Struggle to

Realize the Four Modernizations”

Deng Visits America

The “Gang of Four” Goes on Trial, 1981

“To Get Rich is Glorious”—attributed to Deng

• Economic Reforms– “Socialism and a market economy are not

incompatible”– Opening to international trade and investment– Export-led growth– Introduction of profit motive– Special Economic Zones

• “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” or Capitalism in a Globalized Era?

Billboard in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone

An Economic Miracle

• China’s economy has grown at about 8% yearly per person for the last 30 years—about a tenfold increase in output per person.

• By some measures, China now has the second-largest economy in the world.

• When Deng became leader, over half China’s population was poor by global standard. Now the figure stands at 10% or less.

• At the same time, there are about 28 Chinese billionaires today.

Toward a Consumer Society

1925 Pond’s Cream Ad 1991 Ad—same Product

Socialism or Capitalism? Democracy or Dictatorship?

• Deng favored moderate reforms in political life but advocated one-party rule by the Chinese Communist Party and a strong role for the Chinese military.

• Dissidents continued to suffer repression• 1989: Tienanmen Square protests

Wall Poster Attacking Deng as an Old Emperor: Spring 1989

Tiananmen Square, Beijing, June 5, 1989

After Deng• Rule by technocrats and party managers• Continued rapid economic growth• Emerging problems

– One-child policy and aging population– Energy shortages– Labor repression and discontent– Inequality and continuing poverty– International vulnerability

• Growth and environment: China is now the world’s largest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter.