Introduction:
Coming out of the post Mao age, Deng Xiaoping was certainly a force to be reckoned with in the early days of the Chinese economic miracle. Having brought the concept of state capitalism to China, Xiaoping managed to change a culture which was essentially rooted in paternalism and complete control but this was obviously at the expense of some economic and social freedom. The eventual events which led to the Tiannammen Square massacre remain a blot on Deng’s copybook and he definitely could have dealt with the situation in a far better way without being so utterly ruthless.
Tactics and solutions:
Deng Xiaoping was definitely a much more wily and crafty negotiator of power. In fact he had fallen out of favour during Mao’s time for his hesitancy to intervene in Mao’s grander schemes which eventually led the country into complete disaster. Deng managed to achieve a lot in terms of opening the country up to capitalist influences which eventually led to incredible expansion in this area. However civil liberties remained as restricted as ever and whenever there was some sort of uprising this was immediately and ruthlessly quelled.
Reconciliation
It is quite hard to reconcile the fact that Deng Xiaoping who presided over what must have been the most incredible economic miracle for China in a matter of a few years would have been the person responsible for a massacre of the like of Tiananmen Square where so many innocent people lost their lives. One finds it hard to reconcile this fact with the impressive economic reforms which Xiaoping achieved and which transformed the country completely.
Outcome:
Although the Tiananmen revolt was brutally suppressed, there was a lot of political gain out of everything and the country definitely changed hugely for the better in every sense. This also meant that the country was much more open to reforms and this created a China which was better able to tolerate dissidents. Unfortunately this was not always the case even recently but on the whole, the revolt opened the eyes of Chinese politicians to the world.
Economy and the Yuan
Obviously the relaxation of civil liberties brought about a surge in economic activity which was pretty much the way forward in this respect. The Yuan suffered initially but eventually as reforms were implemented, it increased its strength substantially and accordingly.
Chinese society remains rather repressed in certain ways but things are changing substantially and there is a lot of room for eventual relaxation of civil liberties. The society in certain provinces such as Guangdong is experiencing its own sort of revolution and this will definitely come to a head in the future as things begin to change rapidly and for the better.
However China is still in a state of flux regarding its economic and social reforms. Although one has to admit that Deng Xiaoping was the catalyst for providing the spurt of economic capitalism accordingly, he still has a lot to reconcile with regard to the curtailment of social liberties which eventually culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre. It is truly a sad case at the end of the day as Deng Xiaoping was a very fine administrator and certainly a wily politician and negotiator but he will forever be remembered for this inhumane massacre.
Works Cited:
Vogel, Ezra F. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China (Harvard University Press; 2011), 876 pages
