View source for Deng Xiaoping Theory

{{Short description|Ideology developed by Deng Xiaoping}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
[[File:Deng Xiaoping Atlanta 1979-5 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Deng Xiaoping]]]]
{{Politics of the People's Republic of China|Ideology}}

'''Deng Xiaoping Theory''' ({{lang-zh|s=邓小平理论|p=Dèng Xiǎopíng Lǐlùn}}), also known as '''Dengism''',<ref>{{cite book |last=Nathan |first=Andrew J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YXHN3EEKTwC&pg=PA35 |title=Dilemmas of Reform in Jiang Zemin's China |date=1999 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |isbn=978-1-55587-851-1 |pages=34–36, 39, 46 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Tang |first=Wenfang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VGA9OONVhtcC |title=Public Opinion and Political Change in China |date=2005 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8047-5220-6 |pages=73, 75, 213 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> is the series of political and economic ideologies first developed by Chinese leader [[Deng Xiaoping]].<ref name="Guo 2011">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Guo |first=Dingping |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of Political Science|title=Marxism |pages=1495–1501 |editor1-last=Badie |editor1-first=Bertrand |editor1-link=Bertrand Badie |editor2-first=Dirk |editor2-last=Berg-Schlosser |editor2-link=Dirk Berg-Schlosser |editor3-first=Leonardo |editor3-last=Morlino |editor3-link=Leonardo Morlino |volume=5 |date=2011 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |doi=10.4135/9781412994163 |isbn=9781412959636}}</ref>{{rp|1500}} The theory does not reject [[Marxism–Leninism]] or [[Maoism]], but instead claims to be an adaptation of them to the existing socioeconomic conditions of China.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Years of Hardship and Danger |url=http://cpcchina.chinadaily.com.cn/people/2010-09/14/content_11301454_6.htm |access-date=24 October 2017 |publisher=Peoples Daily China |date=14 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024153451/http://cpcchina.chinadaily.com.cn/people/2010-09/14/content_11301454_6.htm |archive-date=24 October 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Zhang |first=Wei-Wei |title=Ideology and Economic Reform under Deng Xiaoping, 1978–1993 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2020 |orig-date=1996 |url=https://archive.org/details/ideology-and-economic-reform-under-deng-xiaoping-1973-1993 |isbn=978-0-7103-0526-8}}</ref>

The theory also played an important role in China's modern economy, as Deng stressed [[Opening of China|opening China]] to the outside world,<ref>{{cite news |last=Deng |first=Xiaoping |author-link=Deng Xiaoping |title=Carry out the policy of opening to the outside world and learn advanced science and technology from other countries |date=10 October 1978 |url=https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/china/19thcpcnationalcongress/2010-10/15/content_29714551.htm |work=[[China Daily]] |access-date=4 January 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241129224117/https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/china/19thcpcnationalcongress/2010-10/15/content_29714551.htm|archive-date=29 November 2024|url-status=live}}</ref> the implementation of [[one country, two systems]], and through the phrase "[[seek truth from facts]]",<ref name="Guo 2011"/>{{rp|1500}} an advocation of political and economic [[Realpolitik|pragmatism]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ideological Foundation |url=http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66739/4521326.html |access-date=4 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090121081100/http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66739/4521326.html |archive-date=21 January 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Jeffrey A. |last=Bader |author-link=Jeffrey A. Bader |title=How Xi Jinping Sees the World… and Why |journal=Order from Chaos: Foreign Policy in a Troubled World |date=February 2016 |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/xi_jinping_worldview_bader-1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621055334/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/xi_jinping_worldview_bader-1.pdf |archive-date=21 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Synopsis ==
{{further|Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party}}

Drawing inspiration from Lenin's [[New Economic Policy]],<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.1xuezhe.exuezhe.com/Qk/art/273811?dbcode=1&flag=2 |script-title=zh:列宁的新经济政策与邓小平的改革开放之比较 |language=zh |title=Lièníng de xīn jīngjì zhèngcè yǔ dèngxiǎopíng de gǎigé kāifàng zhī bǐjiào |trans-title=Comparison of Lenin's New Economic Policy and Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening |first=Zeng |last=Changqiu |journal=Qinghai Social Sciences |date=2005 |number=2 |pages=9–13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211221451/https://www.1xuezhe.exuezhe.com/Qk/art/273811?dbcode=1&flag=2 |archive-date=11 December 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> Deng's theory encouraged the construction of socialism within China by having it develop [[Socialism with Chinese characteristics|"Chinese characteristics"]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Peters |first=Michael A. |year=2019 |chapter=The Chinese Dream: Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era |title=The Chinese Dream: Educating the Future |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |doi=10.4324/9780429329135-3 |isbn=9780429329135 |s2cid=211643969}}</ref> which was guided by China's economic reform policy with the goal of self-improvement and the development of a socialist system. His theory did not suggest improvement or development of China's closed economic system, but rather, overthrowing the existing economic system for a more open one.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Guidong |title=Proceedings of the 2016 2nd International Conference on Social Science and Technology Education (ICSSTE 2016) |chapter=Joint Integration of Deng Xiaoping' Reform Theory and Chinese Reform |date=2016 |chapter-url=http://www.atlantis-press.com/php/paper-details.php?id=25852708 |pages=433–436 |language=en |location=Guangzhou, China |publisher=Atlantis Press |doi=10.2991/icsste-16.2016.80 |isbn=978-94-6252-177-3|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Deng saw domestic stability as an important factor in economic development - "In China, the overriding need is for stability. Without a stable environment, we can accomplish nothing and may even lose what we have gained". He added that "stability is the basic premise for reform and development. Without stability nothing can be achieved".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wong |first1=Kam C. |title=Police Reform in China |date=2011 |location=New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=242 |doi=10.1201/b11378 |isbn=978-0-429-24595-4}}</ref> During [[Chinese economic reform|Reform and Opening-up]], Deng criticized those he deemed as the ideologues of the Cultural Revolution for seeking "poor socialism" and "poor communism" and believing that communism was a "spiritual thing".{{sfn|Chatwin|2024|p=xiv}} In 1979, Deng stated, "Socialism cannot endure if it remains poor. If we want to uphold Marxism and socialism in the international class struggle, we have to demonstrate that the Marxist system of thought is superior to all others, and that the socialist system is superior to capitalism".{{sfn|Chatwin|2024|p=xvi}}

China largely owes its economic growth to Deng Xiaoping's emphasis on economic production, under the [[theory of the productive forces]] – a subset of 20th century [[Marxist]] theory. In the view of Deng, the task faced by the leadership of China was twofold: (i) promoting modernization of the Chinese economy, and (ii) preserving the ideological unity of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) and its control of the difficult reforms required by modernization.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Liu |last=Kang |title=Is there an alternative to (capitalist) globalization? The debate about modernity in China |journal=Boundary 2 |volume=23 |number=3 |date=1996 |pages=193–218 |doi=10.2307/303642 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/303642 |jstor=303642 |s2cid=164040788|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Deng believed that "only by constantly developing the productive forces can a country gradually become strong and prosperous, with a rising standard of living."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lu |first1=Yang |date=2016 |title=China-India Relations in the Contemporary: World Dynamics of National Identity and Interest |page=53 |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |doi=10.4324/9781315651835 |isbn=9781315651835}}</ref>

Deng argued that due to the isolation of China in the international order of the time and an extremely underdeveloped economy, in order for China to achieve socialism and to bridge the gap between China and Western capitalism, China would have to borrow certain market elements and aspects of [[capitalism]] into its economy.<ref>{{cite news |author=[[Le Monde]] |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2004/01/21/la-construction-de-l-economie-socialiste-de-marche_349978_3234.html? |title=La construction de l'économie socialiste de marché |language=fr |trans-title=The construction of the socialist market economy |work=[[Le Monde]] |date=21 January 2004}}</ref> However, he also suggested that its usage would have to be state-controlled. These borrowed principles, in Deng's mind, allowed a more liberal interpretation of China's modernization into a socialist state. This includes marketing characteristics such as planning, production, and distribution that could be interpreted as socialism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moak |first1=Ken |chapter=Deng Xiaoping Theory |date=2015 |title=China's Economic Rise and Its Global Impact |pages=91–115 |place=New York |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] US |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137535580_6 |isbn=978-1-349-55604-5|last2=Lee |first2=Miles W. N.}}</ref> Modernization efforts were generalized by the concept of the [[Four Modernizations]], set forth by [[Zhou Enlai]] in 1963 and continued by [[Hua Guofeng]] after 1976, to improve agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology in China.<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Uhalley Jr. |title=A History of the Chinese Communist Party |publisher=[[Hoover Institution Press]] |location=Stanford |date=1988 |page=180}}</ref> Dengists still believe that public ownership of land, banks, raw materials, and strategic central industries is necessary so that a democratically elected government can allocate them for the benefit of the country as a whole; but at the same time, private ownership is allowed and encouraged in industries of finished goods and services.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/mediafile/200607/05/F2006070515295500635.swf |title=Selected Works of Deng Xiaopeng Volume 1 (1938–1965) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510060245/http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/mediafile/200607/05/F2006070515295500635.swf |archive-date=10 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/mediafile/200607/05/F2006070515261400629.swf |title=Selected Works of Deng Xiaopeng Volume 2 (1975–1982) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403035549/http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/mediafile/200607/05/F2006070515261400629.swf |archive-date=3 April 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/mediafile/200607/05/F2006070515274900631.swf |title=Selected Works of Deng Xiaopeng Volume 3 (1982–1992) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316192034/http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/mediafile/200607/05/F2006070515274900631.swf |archive-date=16 March 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the Dengist theory, private owners in those industries are not a [[Bourgeoisie#Marxist theory|bourgeoisie]], because in accordance with Marxist theory, the bourgeois owns land and raw materials. In Dengist theory, private company owners are called civil run enterprises.<ref>{{cite web |script-title=zh:厉以宁：民营企业家不是旧中国资本家的延续 商业频道 |title=Lìyǐníng: Mínyíng qǐyè jiā bùshì jiù zhōngguó zīběnjiā de yánxù shāngyè píndào |language=zh |trans-title=Li Yining: Private entrepreneurs are not a continuation of the old Chinese capitalists |url=http://biz.163.com/05/0301/10/1DOK064M00020QF5.html |access-date=3 October 2020 |website=biz.163.com |date=1 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050505042523/http://biz.163.com/05/0301/10/1DOK064M00020QF5.html |archive-date=5 May 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref>

To preserve ideological unity, Deng Xiaoping Theory formulated "[[Four Cardinal Principles]]"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shambaugh |first1=David |title=The Modern Chinese State |year=2000 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521776035 |page=184}}</ref> which the CCP must uphold:<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 June 2011 |orig-date=March 1979 |title='Four Cardinal Principles' |url=http://www.china.org.cn/china/CPC_90_anniversary/2011-06/22/content_22838756.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331213225/http://www.china.org.cn/china/CPC_90_anniversary/2011-06/22/content_22838756.htm |archive-date=31 March 2022 |access-date=10 January 2021 |website=[[China Internet Information Center]]}}</ref>
* the "basic spirit of communism";
* the political system of the PRC, known as the [[people's democratic dictatorship]];
* the leadership of the Communist Party, and;
* [[Marxism–Leninism]] and [[Mao Zedong Thought]].

In 1992, fourteen years after Deng had become China's leader, he embarked on a tour of southern China ({{lang|zh|南巡}}).<ref>{{cite journal |first=Suisheng |last=Zhao |title=Deng Xiaoping's southern tour: elite politics in post-Tiananmen China |journal=[[Asian Survey]] |volume=33 |number=8 |date=1993 |pages=739–756 |doi=10.2307/2645086 |jstor=2645086}}</ref> During this trip he uttered his famous phrase: "Open up" ({{lang|zh-Hans-CN|开放}}). "Open up" would be the foundation for China's economic development up until the present day.

Dengists also take a very strong position against any form of personality cult which appeared in the [[Communist Party of the_Soviet Union#Stalin era (1924–1953)|Soviet Union during Stalin's rule]], [[Cuba]] and the current [[North Korea#Government and politics |North Korea]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://book.people.com.cn/GB/69399/107423/166039/9855979.html |script-title=zh:(五) 邓小平对个人崇拜的批判 |title=(Wǔ) dèngxiǎopíng duì gèrén chóngbài de pīpàn |language=zh |trans-title=(5) Deng Xiaoping's Criticism of Personality Cult |website=book.people.com.cn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528051541/http://book.people.com.cn/GB/69399/107423/166039/9855979.html |archive-date=28 May 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://m.sohu.com/n/403291756/ |script-title=zh:邓小平八大发言：坚持民主集中制 反对个人崇拜 |title=Dèngxiǎopíng bādà fāyán: Jiānchí mínzhǔ jízhōng zhì fǎnduì gèrén chóngbài |language=zh |trans-title=Deng Xiaoping's speech at the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China: Adhere to Democratic Centralism and Oppose the Cult of Personality |website=m.sohu.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308160939/https://m.sohu.com/n/403291756/ |archive-date=8 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Relation to Maoism ==
Deng Xiaoping Theory downplays the Maoist focus on [[class struggle]] on the basis that that struggle would become an obstacle to China's economic development.<ref name="Marquis & Qiao">{{Cite book |last1=Marquis |first1=Christopher |url= |title=Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise |last2=Qiao |first2=Kunyuan |date=2022 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-26883-6 |location=New Haven |doi=10.2307/j.ctv3006z6k |jstor=j.ctv3006z6k |oclc=1348572572 |author-link=Christopher Marquis |s2cid=253067190 |page=50}}</ref> It maintains that it upholds communism, the dictatorship of the proletariat, leadership of the Communist Party, Marxism–Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought.<ref name="Marquis & Qiao"/> Under this view, upholding Mao Zedong Thought does not mean blindly imitating Mao's actions without much deviation as seen in the government of [[Hua Guofeng]], and that doing so would "contradict Mao Zedong Thought".<ref>{{cite web |last=Xiaoping |first=Deng |author-link=Deng Xiaoping |date=16 September 1978 |title=Hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought and adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts |url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/dengxp/vol2/text/b1220.html |work=[[People's Daily]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105004716/http://en.people.cn/dengxp/vol2/text/b1220.html |archive-date=5 January 2015 |access-date=4 January 2009}}</ref>

According to academic [[Richard Baum]], little evidence of Mao's approach survived in Deng.<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Baum |title=Burying Mao: Chinese politics in the age of Deng Xiaoping |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=1996 |isbn=9780691036373}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2023}}

== Legacy ==
The Deng Xiaoping theory played a crucial role in transforming China from its previously [[State ownership|state-owned]] [[command economy]] to a [[socialist market economy]], which resulted in a rapid increase in economic growth within the country, known as the "Chinese economic miracle".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49806247 |title=China anniversary: How the country became the world's 'economic miracle' |first1=Virginia |last1=Harrison |first2=Daniele |last2=Palumbo |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1 October 2019 |access-date=28 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006133542/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49806247 |archive-date=6 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

It has increased the Chinese GDP growth rate to over 8% per year for thirty years and China now has the second largest economy by nominal GDP in the world. Due to the influence of Dengism, Vietnam and Laos have also adopted similar beliefs and policies, allowing Laos to increase its real GDP growth rate to 8.3%.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2003rank.html |title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency |website=www.cia.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613004530/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2003rank.html |archive-date=13 June 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Cuba is also starting to embrace such ideas.{{Cn|date=December 2024}}

Deng's theory would be inherited by [[Jiang Zemin]], along with aspects of Mao Zedong Thought and Marxist-Leninism, into a [[Political sociology|socio-political]] theory known as the "[[Three Represents]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Backer |first=Larry Catá |author-link=Larry Catá Backer |date=7 November 2021 |title=The Communist Party as Polity and the Chinese Party-State Constitutional Order |journal=Handbook of Constitutional Law in Greater China |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3958293 |language=en |location=Rochester, NY |ssrn=3958293}}</ref> This theory was added to the [[Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party]] in 2002.<ref>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Huang |editor1-first=Yibing |title=An Ideological History of the Communist Party of China |date=2020 |others=Qian Zheng, Guoyou Wu, Xuemei Ding, Li Sun, Shelly Bryant |isbn=978-1-4878-0425-1 |edition=1st English |location=Montreal, Quebec |publisher=Royal Collins |oclc=1165409653}}</ref>

Having served as the CCP's major policy guide since the Third Plenum of the 11th CCP National Congress in 1978, the theory was entrenched into the Communist Party's Constitution as a guiding ideology in 1997, and was also subsequently written into the [[Constitution of the People's Republic of China]]:

{{blockquote|Since the Third Plenum of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the Chinese Communists, represented mainly by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, have summed up both the positive and negative experiences gained since the founding of New China, implemented the principle of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, shifted the focus of the Party's work to economic development, introduced reform and opening, ushered in a new period for the development of the socialist cause, gradually formed the line, principles, and policies on building socialism with Chinese characteristics, expounded the basic issues concerning building, consolidating, and developing socialism in China, and created Deng Xiaoping Theory. Deng Xiaoping Theory is a product of the integration of the basic theory of Marxism–Leninism with the practice of modern China and the characteristics of the present era, the inheritance and development of Mao Zedong Thought under new historical conditions, a new stage of the development of Marxism in China, Marxism of modern China, and the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the CPC, guiding the cause of China's socialist modernization steadily forward.<ref>{{cite web |date=18 September 1997 |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/45461.htm |title=Constitution of the Communist Party of China |website=China Internet Information Center}}</ref>}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Communism|Socialism|China}}
* [[Cat theory (Deng Xiaoping)|Cat theory]]
* [[Three Represents]]
* [[Scientific Outlook on Development]]
* [[Trickle-down economics]]
* [[Theory of the productive forces]]
* [[Revisionism (Marxism)]]
* [[Titoism]]
* [[Perestroika]]
* [[Xi Jinping Thought]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chatwin |first=Jonathan |year=2024 |title=The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=9781350435711}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Deng |first=Xiaoping |author-link=Deng Xiaoping |year=1984 |url=https://archive.org/details/selectedworksofd0000deng |url-access=registration |title=Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping |volume=I (1938–1965) |location=Beijing |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Press]] |isbn=0-8351-2885-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Deng |first=Xiaoping |author-link=Deng Xiaoping |year=1984 |url=https://archive.org/details/selectedworksofd0000deng_l9t6 |url-access=registration |title=Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping |volume=II (1975–1982) |location=Beijing |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Press]] |isbn=0-8351-1305-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Deng |first=Xiaoping |author-link=Deng Xiaoping |year=1994 |url=https://archive.org/details/selectedworksofd0000deng_h7k9 |url-access=registration |title=Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping |volume=III (1982–1992) |location=Beijing |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Press]] |isbn=7-119-01689-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Wu |first=Jie |year=1996 |url=https://archive.org/details/dengxiaopingthoughtwujie |title=On Deng Xiaoping Thought |location=Beijing |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Press]] |isbn=7-119-01868-X}}
* {{cite journal |last=Narayanan |first=Raviprasad |title=The politics of reform in China: Deng, Jiang and Hu. |journal=Strategic Analysis |volume=30 |number=2 |date=2006 |pages=329–353 |doi=10.1080/17540054.2006.12288835 |s2cid=154675442}}

{{Deng Xiaoping}}

[[Category:Deng Xiaoping Theory| ]]
[[Category:Deng Xiaoping]]
[[Category:Socialism with Chinese characteristics]]
[[Category:Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Politics of the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Eponymous political ideologies]]
[[Category:Economy of China]]