Zheng Bijian

(1) China has made phenomenal achievements over the past 36 years since the implementation of reform and opening up, and this year marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Deng Xiaoping, the “chief architect” of China’s reform and opening up program. We are witnessing a historical evolution in today’s China, which we owe to Deng Xiaoping Theory, and a great awakening of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese nation and people. We are convinced more than any time in history that our cause would not be what it is today absent the strategic course of building socialism with Chinese characteristics that Deng Xiaoping had charted for us. The best way of remembering him is to forge ahead unswervingly for a broader future of development.

Deng Xiaoping Theory Came into Being in the Hard Struggle of Charting a New, Strategic Path for China

(2) Deng Xiaoping’s life was splendid, and his last 20 years starting from the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC were more so than any other period of his life. He made two historic contributions to the CPC and the Chinese people in those 20 years. First, he wrought order out of the chaos of the Cultural Revolution and, by leading the whole party in correctly assessing China’s historical experiences since its founding, completely repudiated the catastrophic movement. At the same time, he made a scientific valuation of Comrade Mao Zedong’s historical standing and the significance of Mao Zedong Thought as a guidance. Second, he led the whole party and the Chinese people in successfully blazing out the new strategic path of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, and this magnificent process resulted in the establishment of Deng Xiaoping Theory.  

Deng Xiaoping once remarked, “Without Chairman Mao, the Chinese people would, at the very least, have spent much more time groping in the dark.”[ii] Today, we could rightly say, “Without Deng Xiaoping, the Party and the people would likely be struggling with poverty and backwardness even now.”

(3) Since the days of Mao Zedong and then Deng Xiaoping and till now, a central thread running through the entire body of guiding theories of the CPC has been Sinicization of Marxism. It is in the process of Sinicization that the Party has reached two historical milestones, each represented by the establishment of a major theory or theories. The first is Mao Zedong Thought; the second is the body of scientific theories on building socialism with Chinese characteristics under new historical conditions, which are founded on Deng Xiaoping Theory and are guiding China’s reform and opening up and socialist modernization drive. 

(4) Great theories are born in times of hard struggle and innovative practice. In essence, Deng Xiaoping Theory had resulted from Deng Xiaoping’s deep reflections on the turbulent changes that occurred both at home and abroad during the last 20 years of the 20th century, in which he engaged in a hard struggle. It had not come about overnight, smoothly, or at one swoop; in one word, it had come into existence amid great historical changes.

(5) The most prominent historical changes that took place in China in those twenty years were associated with two major historical periods, each of which found China at a crossroads:

At the end of the 1970s following the tumultuous Cultural Revolution, the serious question of where China should be headed loomed large in front of the CPC and the Chinese people. At a time when the people were still under the spell of the “two-whatever” doctrine[iii] and were frustrated and unsure about the future destiny of the party and the nation, Deng Xiaoping staunchly supported the national debate on the criterion of truth (1978) and thus forcefully pushed forward the liberation of thought. As the focus of work of the entire Party shifted from class struggle to economic development, the policy of “one central task, two basic points”[iv] was instituted. Within just a few years China climbed out of its political and economic woes and embarked on rapid economic development that was to continue for the entire 1980s.   

Ten years later, that is at the end of the 1980s, China came to another crossroads. The question of where China should be headed once again presented itself seriously in front of the CPC and the Chinese people amid the political unrest domestically and the collapse of the Soviet Union internationally. Should China follow the wicked path of bourgeois liberalization or retread the path of being closed? Or should it continue unswervingly on the new path of building socialism with Chinese characteristics? In the face of the complex situation, Deng Xiaoping emphasized, with his consistent deep conviction and unusual courage and vision, that maintaining stability was the overriding task. Shortly afterwards, his well-known Southern Tour talks were published. In those talks he clarified, by addressing their roots, a series of major political, ideological, and theoretical issues, thereby pushing forward a new round of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, which were to catch worldwide attention.    

(6) Internationally, the most prominent changes in those 20 years were associated with the introduction and establishment of the strategic view that peace and development are the dominant themes of the times. Earlier, from the latter half of the 1970s to the mid-1980s, Deng Xiaoping became keenly aware of the fact that the scientific and technological revolution worldwide was developing apace. At the same time, he found that the United States and the Soviet Union—the two superpowers in the world most qualified to launch a world war—did not achieve their global strategic deployments, as the former was defeated in the Vietnam War and the latter met with setbacks in Afghanistan. Also, he realized that it would be a global trend for the developing countries to concentrate on development. Therefore, he concluded, “Among the host of problems in the present-day world, two stand out all the more. One is the problem of peace; the other is the North-South problem.”[v] The North-South problem was one of development. Based on the strategic judgment, he urged the whole party to seize the rare opportunities of the times by concentrating on economic development and progress.

Thereafter, from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s, Deng Xiaoping, with a clearheaded understanding and grasp of the complex international situation, pointed out that peace and development remained the dominant themes of the times. Thus he proposed the strategy of “observing calmly; securing our position; coping with affairs calmly; hiding our capacities and biding our time” [vi]. At the same time, weighing upon the international situation, he said, “We must do something.”[vii] Taking Shanghai as a “trump card”[viii], he proposed the major move of developing Pudong to stimulate the development of the Yangtze River Delta and even the country at large. As a result, China frustrated the economic sanctions that seven Western countries jointly imposed on it, and thus the oppressive international situation took a turn for the better.

(7) It was under the aforementioned domestic and international situation that Deng Xiaoping spent the last few years of his splendid life. In the height of summer in 1992, when he was at the advanced age of 89, he devoted himself to the editing of the Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume III for publication. We remember vividly how he personally reviewed every article and took publication of the book in his hand as a pressing matter. “The book serves our purpose well. It is of educational value to the people and comes out at the right time,” he said. “I have made those remarks, whether for the present time or for the future, from an overall perspective rather than a narrow perspective. Let’s finish it with the Southern Tour talks piece; this is good since everything seems to be well-organized.” It was published as his “final words” and as a monumental work of great practical importance and long-term strategic importance, and he dedicated it to the Party, his motherland, and the people. He was rejoiced, saying, “Finally this is done”.  

(8) Thus it was through a period of 20 years of arduous practice amid historical changes after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC that Deng Xiaoping Theory came into being and developed. However, if the “Resolution on Certain Questions in the History”officially made for the near 30-year period from the founding of New China in 1949 to the eve of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC (we have drawn a rich wealth of historical experience and lessons from this period)[ix] is included, it had actually taken nearly half a century’s time for Deng Xiaoping Theory to take shape and eventually be established.    

In 1993 the Central Committee of the CPC made the solemn statement, “The Third Volume of Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping has now been published. It serves as our best textbook material and most powerful weapon in our efforts to further equip the whole party with the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, educate the cadres and the people, and unify our thought and consolidate our convictions, thereby implementing the Party’s basic line actively, correctly, and comprehensively.” The Central Committee urged the whole party to conscientiously study Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume III under the new situation of reform and opening up and socialist modernization drive.   

(9) Since the late 1980s, the Central Committee of the CPC, first with Jiang Zemin at the core and then with Hu Jintao, effectively promoted reform and opening up and the socialist modernization drive while whipping up and leading the high tide of studying Deng Xiaoping Theory. Also, the Central Committee made significant theoretical achievements in Sinicization of Marxism, including the Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development. While sharing the ideological underpinnings of Deng Xiaoping Theory, these theories kept pace with the times and enhanced and further developed the body of theories for building socialism with Chinese characteristics with Deng Xiaoping Theory as their foundation. 

(10) The party and the people were greatly encouraged that less than one month after the conclusion of the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC, President Xi Jinping made a tour to Guangdong Province, the forefront of China’s reform and opening up. He laid a wreath of flowers at Deng Xiaoping’s bronze statue that sits on the top of Lianhua Hill in Shenzhen and remarked, “Today we pay respects to Deng Xiaoping’s bronze statue as a sign of our determination to steadfastly push forward reform and opening up. We will work hard to achieve breakthrough progress in reform and opening up and the modernization drive in order to take these to a new and higher level.” “Reform and opening up are moves that are crucial to the fate of China today, to the fulfillment of the two Centennial Goals, and hence to the great renaissance of the Chinese nation,” he further pointed out. “There is no end to practice and development, to liberating the mind, nor to reform and opening up. Staying where we are or going backward will lead us nowhere.”   

Since then, the Central Committee of the CPC with President Xi Jinping at the core has adopted a series of major policies and decisions. In particular, the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth CPC Central Committee held in November 2013 made the historic decision of deepening reform comprehensively, signifying that we were taking the cause of reform and opening up and socialist modernization to the next level on the strategic path charted by Deng Xiaoping.

(11) Reviews of our history and present-day development have repeatedly and eloquently shown that Deng Xiaoping Theory has provided us with strong ideological, motivational, and intellectual support in our efforts to realize a major evolution and new awakening in the new era. It is a great fortune for the party, the nation, and the people to have been blessed with such support. 

The Purpose of Reform Is to Keep Abreast with the Times, and the Key is “Three Liberates”

(12) “In the days of the Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four were in tyrannical power, and the people were oppressed and deeply worried about the future of the nation. The society as a whole was at a standstill,” Deng Xiaoping said. “The first couple of years following the Cultural Revolution were a period of wavering. It was after December 1978, when the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC was convened, that the country started to be really invigorated as we devoted our energies to the things that the people wanted done.”[x] By comparing the days of the Cultural Revolution and those in its wake, Deng Xiaoping was raising the sharp question of whether we should allow China to stay in stagnation or invigorate it by devoting ourselves to doing the things that the