Deng Xiaoping

Source dates: 18 January–21 February 1992. Published excerpts from talks in Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai. Editorial overview.

Deng urges officials to experiment more boldly and judge policies through their effects on production, national capacity and living standards. He distinguishes the instruments of economic management from the political identity of a system: planning and markets can both be used in different institutional settings.

He advocates learning from foreign technology and management while keeping the overall strategic direction stable. Successful experiments should be extended; unsuccessful ones should be altered or stopped. He also identifies common prosperity as a goal and warns against permanent polarization between rich and poor.

The published text brings together remarks made across several locations, rather than reproducing one continuous speech. Read as a whole, it shows how Deng combined tactical flexibility with political continuity. It is a statement of his development programme, not proof that its distributive objectives were subsequently achieved.

Read the English text.