Deng Xiaoping  Pronounced approximately "deng sh-oping" August 22, 1904 - February 19, 1997) was a prominent Chinese politician and reformer, and the late leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Deng never held office as the head of state or the head of government, but served as the de facto leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to the early 1990s. He developed "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and Chinese economic reform, also known as the "socialist market economy", and opened China to the global market.

Sourced

• "Vietnam is a hooligan, we must teach them a lesson."
  • (On December 1978, in a visit to several Southeast Asia countries, only a few months before The third Indochina War, he said this unforgettable quote live on the China television network)
• 小朋友不聴話,該打打屁股了. Translation: It's time to smack the bottom of unruly little children. (
  • While talking to president Jimmy Carter during his brief visit to the United States, thereby informing the USA that China was ready to go to war with Vietnam.
• “Well, that’s the way it’s presented in our propaganda. We needed that to express the fighting spirit of our forces. In fact, it was a very easy military operation.(On The Crossing of Luding Bridge, The Red Army Long March.)
  • former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski mentioned a conversation that he once had with Deng Xiaoping.

• We should do more, and talk less.
  • propaganda poster

• We mustn't fear to adopt the advanced management methods applied in capitalist countries (...) The very essence of socialism is the liberation and development of the productive systems (...) Socialism and market economy are not incompatible (...) We should be concerned about right-wing deviations, but most of all, we must be concerned about left-wing deviations.
  • Cited by António Caeiro in Pela China Dentro (translated), Dom Quixote, Lisboa, 2004. ISBN 972-20-2696-8

Unsourced

• Some must get rich first!
• No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat.
  • 1962, From a speech in a meeting of the Secretariat, actually a Sichuan proverb.

• Socialism is not the same as shared poverty.

• To China's problems, the overwhelming priority is stability. Without a stable environment, nothing can be achieved, and what has been achieved will be lost... Democracy is our goal, but the country must remain stable.
  • Meeting with George H. W. Bush

• 24-Characters: keep cool-headed to observe, be composed to make reactions, stand firmly, hide our capabilities and bide our time, never try to take the lead, and be able to accomplish something.”

Misattributed

• 致富光荣 (zhìfù guāngróng: To get rich is glorious!)
  • Deng is commonly quoted with this phrase in western media but there is no proof that he actually said it http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/689588251.html?dids=689588251:689588251&FMT=ABS

• One Country, Two systems.
  • Actually coined by Mao Zedong

• It's too early to tell.
  • About the impact of the French Revolution, actually said by Zhou Enlai