Word: deng
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...VILLA IN BEIJING, DENG Xiaoping, 91, sits in a wheelchair unable to speak. Sometimes he is shown a document, specially printed in oversized characters. He nods, shakes his head or simply stares. One of his daughters then attempts to decipher his meaning. Years ago, Deng resigned from his official positions and tried to retire, but Chinese tradition and the ethos of the Communist Party conspire to force him to rule, or pretend to rule, until the moment he is pronounced dead. While he lingers, dozens of party elders, senior military leaders, provincial kingpins and Politburo members are maneuvering for influence...
...meet that challenge, a collective leadership has been formed, with Jiang as "the core," as Deng himself put it. But once Deng is gone, rivals within the group can be expected to go gunning for Jiang, and he will have to fight to stay on top. Many China experts predict that Jiang will not prevail in an all-out test of strength. The affable apparatchik has been nicknamed Weather Vane because he tends to swing with the prevailing political wind...
Still, it is not at all obvious that Jiang will ever demonstrate that he has the wisdom and strength to govern China under current conditions. The Communist Party has lost much of its authority among the people, who are convinced, as Deng told them, that "to get rich is glorious." Yet the economy is uneven. It registered 11.8% real growth last year, but the inflation rate peaked above 25%, and more than 40 million people are unemployed, while 100 million others are underemployed. The Chinese feel alienated from the government because of pervasive official corruption and memories...
...Like Deng, who was hounded into exile by rampaging Red Guard demonstrators at the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, Jiang believes only a strong hand can stave off chaos in China. Yet time may be running out on that formula. Even now, says Mineo Nakajima, a Sinologist at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, "Jiang is using the police and security forces to control social unrest, but he will have difficulty if it continues to escalate." The country's volatile economic situation and its corruption accentuate the widespread sense of unfairness, feeding the "red-eye disease"--envy...
...basis for prosperity be reconciled with central political control? A search is beginning for a process in which China's people can have some say in public affairs and see some evidence that their leaders respect them. It is a commonplace that all-powerful, charismatic Mao and Deng were in the tradition of China's Emperors. Jiang Zemin and his rivals are mere politicians. They must be responsive ones, or the tiger will toss them off its back...