the speech that not every enterprise had to be new and colossal. ‘‘[W]e
should not allow [form] to degenerate into formalism, wasting state
funds for the sake of form or stressing the importance of form at the
expense of our work,’’ exhorted Deng ( 1992 : 245). In a discussion of
how to build Xi’an (a city in central China) in the early years of the
PRC, Deng emphasized the economic practicality of different projects
such as the location and size of theatres and hotels. In contrast to
an indiscriminate focus on grand ostentation, he directed everyone’s
attention to ‘‘solving the problems of concern to the masses that can be
solved with a small amount of money or even without spending any
money’’ (Deng, 1992 : 248). This incrementalist style and practice
persisted into Deng’s later reforms.
In his speech, ‘‘Restore agricultural production’’ (Deng, 1992 :
292–296), he mentioned a few rural people’s communes across the
country that were unwilling to relinquish their commune ownership.
He advised a gradual approach: if the people there were ‘‘unwilling to
break them up, let them remain as they are’’ (Deng, 1992 : 293). In the
same speech, he said that the entire country in the past was frequently
placed under a single plan without adequate consideration of the
different conditions and particular circumstances of different areas,
and that unsuccessful past experiences should caution against forcing
everyone to do the same thing on an exaggerated scale. He was wary
of the practice of launching a nationwide movement for each and
every undertaking.
In his speech, ‘‘Emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and unite
as one in looking to the future’’ (Deng, 1984 : 151–165), he discussed
the fact that China lacked trained professionals for legislative work.
Therefore, he suggested, ‘‘[L]egal provisions will have to be less than
perfect to start with, then be gradually improved upon. Some laws and
statutes can be tried out in particular localities and later enacted
nationally after the experience has been evaluated and improvements
have been made’’ (Deng, 1984 : 158). In the same speech, Deng
encouraged some regions and people to get rich first to serve as an
‘‘impressive example to their ‘neighbors’’’ (Deng, 1984 : 164). This
practice clearly would not conform to the traditional socialist mentality
of equality and egalitarianism in the early years of the PRC. Pye ( 1986 )
summarizes Deng’s reform method as ‘‘gradualist experimentalism.’’
Deng’s gradualist or incrementalist approach was manifest through-
out his career. He knew very well how to fuse socialist and political
228 Xin-an Lu and Jie Lu