Asian History

Famous Speeches of Deng Xiaoping

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion1

Conclusion6

References7

Famous Speeches of Deng Xiaoping

Introduction

Deng Xiaoping was born on 22nd August 1904. He was prominent Chinese reformist, a veteran revolutionist, and the main leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between 1978 and early 1990s. He was never formally head of government or state, but was instead the real leader of the People's Republic of China. He developed socialism in the China, adding to it the spice of unique cultural characteristics, and is considered the father of economic reforms in China (Kau, 1993). Under his leadership, the Republic of China embarked on economic reforms to liberalize the communist economy. It was his efforts that allowed the country to achieve impressive levels of economic growth. Given these successes in the economy, Deng exercised a distinctly authoritarian power, and its role was decisive in the violent suppression of protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. He distinguished himself as a moderate and pragmatic leader, as opposed to being a radical leader. He died on 19th February 1997. The paper discusses the famous speeches delivered by Deng Xiaoping, between 1975 and 1984.

Discussion

The speeches of Deng Xiaoping suggest fairly obviously that he, unlike many of his colleagues in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, had few if any pretensions to be a philosopher or even for the most part an ideologist. His work as a political organizer dominated his life and career, and his speeches were overwhelmingly concerned with matters of political organization. From his speeches, he appears as an organizer par excellence, though by no means a decision maker sheltering behind the scenes of bureaucracy. On the contrary, he was a true and a real leader of China, who complied with the realistic wishes of the Chinese public.

For the most part, Deng's language was plain and relatively down-to-earth, leaving the impact of what he had to say to the organizational ideas he wished to propose or provide as commentary. He avoided the extravagant exaggeration and earthy language that characterized at least one or his predecessors, and his speeches contained few passages that carried meaning beyond their immediate context or that were truly quotable. There are some notable exceptions. Perhaps the most famous is his comment that: “it doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white so long as it catches mice” (Schram, 1984, pp 417-461). This was often regarded by west as a justification for what is seen as Deng's pragmatism, he was criticized heavily for the remark during the Cultural Revolution, and again in 1975-6. Another exception was his speech in June 1989, shortly after the Beijing Massacre, to the commanders of the martial law enforcement troops. When referring back to the events of May and early June he said that it was a storm that was bound to happen sooner or later.

Deng Xiaoping's aim was the economic development and the creation of political condition in China where both democracy and centralism existed; along with freedom, discipline, personal ease of mind, unity of will, and liveliness; for the promotion of socialist construction and ...