Soviet areas in Jiangxi province and tried to oust Mao from his
leadership position. Deng’s support of Mao caused Deng to lose the
position of party secretary of Huichang county, and then of director
of propaganda of Jiangxi province. Deng was at that time labeled
‘‘the ringleader of the Maoist camp’’ (Liu, 2001 ). Mao never forgot
Deng’s support in those difficult times, which perhaps led to Mao’s
reinstatement of Deng twice in the central government. Despite their
differences after 1949, Mao always believed that Deng was a genuine
Marxist (Li, 1994 ).
Both Mao and Deng worked hard for a strong, independent China.
Both believed in Marxism, ‘‘seeking truth from the facts,’’ and ‘‘serving
the people’’ (see, for instance, Chen and Yang, 1992 ; Liu, 2001 ;
Yu, 1995 ; a more elaborate comparative discussion of Mao and Deng
follows later in this chapter). However, after 1949 their different
methods for achieving the common end led to deep-seated discord
and eventually to Deng’s broad post-Mao reforms. The failure of
Mao’s utopian and large-scale movements for a strong China led to
Deng’s search for better methods. Deng’s speeches as early as the
1950s (specific ones of which are introduced later in the chapter)
manifested a strong propensity for practicality and gradualism. Deng’s
ideas were not heeded when Mao was too bright a shining star in
China’s political sky. As Deng is remembered largely because of his
reformism via effective leadership methodology, not because of the
thoughts he shared with Mao, this chapter focuses on introducing
Deng’s reformism and pragmatic, gradualist leadership methodology.
Following Mao’s death and the end of the Cultural Revolution,
Deng’s comprehensive reforms gradually came to full bloom. Deng
believed that a strong China cannot come from constant mass struggles
for ideological purity and rectification, which as proved in practice
had led to disasters. A strong China must first come from economic
prosperity, which is indispensable for national independence and
strength. In 1978, when Deng took power, he launched a ‘‘Movement
of Ideological Liberation,’’ a movement of ‘‘seeking truth from facts,’’
to take the nation out of the mentality and trauma of the Cultural
Revolution, and to prepare the nation for the host of reforms soon
to be introduced. Liou ( 1999 ) believes that the first lesson for China’s
post-Mao economic development is Deng’s reformism, the cautious
execution of which helped to reduce the risks and uncertainties
associated with any new reform policy.
222 Xin-an Lu and Jie Lu