Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Deng Xiaoping in 1978. (AP Photo)
pulled down all over China, and Deng rejected all attempts to create a
similar personality cult around himself. Deng wanted to change
China, but he would do it from behind the scenes, without the heroi-
cally high profile of Chairman Mao, the Great Helmsman. In
August 1977 Deng stated in a major party speech that Mao had
actually made mistakes. On this occasion, he also propounded his
famous principle “seek truth from facts.” By this he meant that the
Chinese Communists should henceforth be less concerned about ideo-
logical purity and doctrinal rigidity and be more flexible and prag-
matic in their thinking: whatever worked was good, and whatever
did not was bad. Deng's star was rising, and by the end of the year
he and his fellow moderates Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang had been
admitted to the Politburo. Deng, labeled a capitalist roader during
the Cultural Revolution, was now emerging as China's preeminent
leader. Political developments turned on a dime in China.
To the relief of China's population, Deng announced that there would
be no more mass movements and that the nation would henceforth con-
centrate on building its economy and improving the lives of its citizens.
Deng allowed, even encouraged, individual enterprise and found noth-
ing wrong with material incentives. Diehard conservative Communists
