Word: deng
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...measure, it was an impressive political tour de force. When a special six-day conference of the Chinese Communist Party ended in Peking last week, China's leader, Deng Xiaoping, could rejoice in a full-scale tactical victory even though he had made some compromises in the process. As expected, Deng, 81, managed to dislodge practically all of his opponents from the party leadership and replace them with younger, bettereducated and more pragmatic people of his own choosing. Six new members of the Politburo, which has now been reduced from 24 to 20 seats, and three new full members...
Before its adjournment, the 992-delegate conference also approved a draft of the new five-year economic plan, the seventh since the Communists came to power in 1949. It too reflected Deng's modernization drive, with continued commitment to foreign investment and more trade and a renewal of efforts to stimulate production by loosening central controls. The plan calls for a restrained annual growth rate of 7%, compared with an average 10% during the past five years, a period when the Chinese economy overheated...
Interestingly, however, the meeting underscored an ideological disagreement that still exists within the party despite Deng's success in moving China away from Maoism. At the closing session, Deng chose to appease hard-liners by emphasizing, "In our propaganda, we must firmly oppose bourgeois liberalism, that is, publicity that favors taking the capitalist road." He continued, "We exert ourselves for socialism not only because socialism provides conditions for faster development of the forces of production than capitalism but also because only socialism can eliminate the greed, corruption and injustice that are inherent in capitalism...
...same reason, he said, "a few have remained." Translation: some of the party's octogenarians, including Deng and Chen Yun, were staying on because they are "experienced revolutionaries with high prestige both inside and outside the party at home and abroad." Retiring Minister of Culture Zhu Muzhi, 69, later told newsmen that Deng and several other older leaders would definitely remain in their present positions...
...reforms can survive him. But the diplomatic skills involved were those of an old man who had himself been $ a victim of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Somewhere along the way, despite the anguish and humiliation inflicted upon him and his family by Mao and his Red Guards, Deng developed his ideas about revitalizing the economy, permitting a measure of political freedom and, not least, about dealing with political opposition. Culture Minister Zhu described last week's achievement as "a symbol of the maturity" of the Chinese party and thus of Deng's leadership. That still leaves the question...