Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China (3 page)

Although there are several institutions where specialists are doing research on party history, including the Central Party School, several universities, and the Contemporary China Research Institute, the institution with the greatest number of researchers, the greatest resources, and the best access to party materials is the Central Party Literature Research Center (Zhonggong Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi), which is operated under the purview of the Central Committee. Some fifteen people at this center worked on compiling
Deng Xiaoping nianpu
. In addition, about fifteen are now working on an official biography of Deng that they hope to complete within the next several years.

At Harvard, I have had the opportunity over the years to exchange views with many visiting Chinese officials and scholars, some of whom are very familiar
with the politics of Beijing. A number are prominent political dissidents—very able, dedicated, and idealistic people who ran afoul of party orthodoxy in the 1980s. I particularly benefited from talks with Chen Yizi, Dai Qing, Gao Wenquan, the late Liu Binyan, Ruan Ming, and the late Wang Ruoshui. I have talked with Wang Dan, a student leader during the Tiananmen incident, and Wei Jingsheng, whose famous 1978 wall poster on Democracy Wall, “On the Fifth Modernization,” led to a sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment. I have also talked with younger former officials such as Wu Guoguang, Wu Jiaxiang (who has since returned to Beijing), and Yu Qihong, all of whom worked in central party organs. And I have learned from economic specialists whom I knew in Beijing and at Harvard, particularly Fan Gang, Lu Mai, and Qian Yingyi.

In addition to those mentioned earlier, I have interviewed Bao Pu, Chris Buckley, Anson Chan, Chen Guangzhe, Chen Haosu, Chen Kaizhi, Chen Weili, Chen Xiankui, Chen Xiaolu, Chen Yuan, Chen Zhiya, Cheng Zhongyi, Chung Jae Ho, Deng Yingtao, John Dolfin, Peter Drysdale, Du Pu, Du Ruizhi, Du Runsheng, Gao Hua, Gao Shangquan, Gao Xiqing, the late Gong Yuzhi, Leo Goodstadt, He Fang, He Liliang, Hu Xiaojiang, Huang Ping, Huang Renwei, Ji Humin, Jiang Mianheng, Jin Chongji, Larry Lau, Leng Rong, Leung Chun-ying, Li Dequan, Li Jie, Li Junru, Li Pu, Li Sengping, the late Li Shenzhi, Li Xiangqian, Li Yu, Lin Jingyao, Liu Shuqing, Liu Yawei, Christine Loh, Long Yongtu, Lu Yaogang, Luo Yuan, Ma Liqun, Ma Peiwen, Charles Martin, Dede Nickerson, Chris Patten, Mario Pini, Sha Zukang, Shang Yuan, Shen Shaojie, Shen Zaiwang, Song Kehuang, Song Yiping, Sun Gang, Donald Tseng, Wan Shupeng, Wang Jian, Wang Juntao, Wang Yannan, Wang Yi, Wu Jinglian, Wu Nansheng, Xiao Donglian, Xie Mingang, Xiong Huayuan, Yan Jiaqi, Yang Chengxu, Yang Qixian, Yang Tianshi, Ye Xuanji, Ye Xuanlian, Regina Yip, Yu Xiaoxia, Zeng Yanxiu, Zhai Zhihai, Zhang Baijia, Zhang Guoxing, Zhang Xianyang, Zhang Xingxing, Zhang Xinsheng, Zhang Ying, Zhang Yunlin, Zhao Shukai, Zheng Bijian, Zheng Zhongbing, Zhou Mingwei, Zhou Muzhi, Zhou Qi, and Zhu Qizhen. I am indebted to all my Chinese friends and acquaintances who tried to help a foreigner understand. But none bears any responsibility for the views I present, which are my own best judgments from the various sources I have seen.

To get a better sense of the environment that Deng experienced, I spent several days each in locations that were important to Deng during his lifetime: his birthplace in Guang'an county in Sichuan; the Taihang Mountains
in Shanxi where Deng spent eight years as a guerrilla fighter; Chongqing and Chengdu, Deng's base when he was in charge of the Southwest Bureau from 1949 to 1952; and Ruijin, Jiangxi, where he lived for several years during the early 1930s. I also visited Chen Yun's birth site in Qingpu, on the outskirts of Shanghai. In each of these places, local scholars and officials were helpful in supplementing the materials in museums, giving me a sense of Deng's role in the local setting.

I traveled to Singapore to talk with former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who perhaps knew Deng Xiaoping as well as any foreign leader, former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, former adviser on the Chinese coastal areas Goh Keng Swee, President S. R. Nathan, and other officials. I also had long discussions with scholars, especially Wang Gungwu, John Wong, and Zheng Yongnian. In Hong Kong I met Yang Zhenning and Edgar Cheng, who met Deng many times when traveling with his father-in-law, Y. K. Pao, the leading Hong Kong shipping magnate who had more meetings with Deng than anyone else living outside mainland China.

In Australia, I had a chance to talk with former prime minister Robert Hawke, former ambassador to Beijing Ross Garnaut, former foreign ministry official Richard Rigby, Roger Uren, and others. In addition, I traveled to Moscow, where I met Lev Deliusin who spent many years in China, headed the Oriental Institute in Moscow, and wrote a book on Deng. I have benefited especially from discussions with Alexander Pantsov, a meticulous scholar now teaching in the United States, who is knowledgeable about Russian sources on Mao and Deng, and Sergei Tikhvinsky.

My visits to England in search of greater insights on Deng led to discussions with former ambassador Sir Alan Donald, former ambassador Richard Evans, and former Hong Kong governor David Wilson—and while in Beijing, I met former British ambassador Sir Anthony Galsworthy. I also talked with former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee Hwa and spent many sessions with Sin Por Shiu, a member of the Hong Kong negotiating team with Beijing.

While in Japan, I talked with former prime minister Nakasone Yasuhiro; former ambassadors to Beijing, including Anami Koreshige, Kunihiro Michihiko, and Tanino Sakutaro; other former China specialists in the Japanese Foreign Ministry such as Hatakenaka Atsushi, Kato Koichi, and Shimokouji Shuji; and generalists who know a great deal about Japanese foreign policy, including Kawashima Yutaka, Togo Katsuhiko, and Watanabe Koji. I have also talked with Japanese scholars who specialize in China's relations with
other countries, particularly Hirano Ken'ichiro, Kawashima Shin, Kokubun Ryosei, Mori Kazuko, Soeya Yoshihide, Takagi Seiichiro, Takahara Akio, Tanaka Akihiko, Tsuji Kogo, Yabuki Susumu, and Yamada Tatsuo. I am indebted especially to two Japanese scholars of China, Masuo Chisako and Sugimoto Takashi, who are translating this book into Japanese. Masuo, who wrote an excellent book on Deng's foreign policy, assisted me in collecting Japanese materials, including some that have been declassified by the Japanese government.

I have had the chance to talk with a number of American officials who met Deng, including former president Jimmy Carter and former vice president Walter Mondale, who had key visits with Deng in 1979; as well as Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft. I also talked with Zbigniew Brzezinski and the late Michel Oksenberg, who were the key White House officials who managed the normalization talks. Edward Cox, a son-in-law of President Richard Nixon who visited Deng with the president, shared his recollections with me. I talked with several former U.S. ambassadors to Beijing, including the late Arthur Hummel, the late Jim Lilley, Winston Lord, Joe Prueher, Sandy Randt, Stapleton Roy, Jim Sasser, and the late Leonard Woodcock. Ambassador Woodcock's widow, Sharon Woodcock, kindly shared with me her husband's papers. I have also had an opportunity to talk with other China specialists who served in the White House, the State Department, or other parts of the U.S. government, particularly Mike Armacost, Chris Clarke, Richard Fisher, Chas Freeman, David Gries, Charles Hill, Don Keyser, Paul Kreisberg, Herb Levin, Ken Lieberthal, Bill McCahill, Doug Paal, Nick Platt, Alan Romberg, Stapleton Roy, Richard Solomon, Doug Spelman, Robert Suettinger, Roger Sullivan, Robert Sutter, Harry Thayer, and John Thomson. Two former students, Susan Lawrence and Melinda Liu, who spent many years reporting from Beijing, have been extraordinarily generous with their time and insights. Jan Berris of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations has been a wonderful source of information about people and events. I have also interviewed four of Deng's interpreters: Ji Chaozhu, Shi Yanhua, Nancy Tang, and the late Zhang Hanzhi.

I have benefited from the careful reading of drafts of the entire manuscript by Paul Cohen, Joseph Fewsmith, Merle Goldman, Charlotte Ikels, Don Keyser, Andrew Nathan, Tony Saich, and David Shambaugh. I have also been fortunate to have had parts of the manuscript read carefully by John Berninghausen, Ashley Esarey, Mel Goldstein, Arthur Kleinman, Mike Lampton, Diana Lary, Susan Lawrence, Cheng Li, Edwin and Cyril Lim, Perry Link,
Bill McCahill, Lawrence Reardon, Robert Ross, Stapleton Roy, Richard Samuels, Richard Solomon, Mike Szonyi, Martin Whyte, Dalena Wright, and Ye Nan. (Those who read
Chapter 18
are listed in the notes to that chapter.) A number of party historians in China were kind enough to read through an earlier draft of this manuscript that had been translated into Chinese to help correct errors and misunderstandings: Chen Donglin, Cheng Zhongyuan, Han Gang, Qi Weiping, Shen Zhihua, Xiao Yanzhong, Yang Kuisong, and Zhu Jiamu. Only I, however, can be held responsible for any errors not corrected and for those that have crept in since they read the manuscript.

I have benefited greatly from discussions with colleagues at Harvard, including William Alford, Peter Bol, Julian Chang, Paul Cohen, Tim Colton, Nara Dillon, Mark Elliott, Joe Fewsmith, Merle Goldman, Steve Goldstein, Rowena He, Sebastian Heilmann, William Hsiao, Iain Johnston, Bill Kirby, Arthur Kleinman, Rod MacFarquhar, Suzanne Ogden, Bill Overholt, Dwight Perkins, Liz Perry, Robert Ross, Tony Saich, Mike Szonyi, Tam Tai, Tu Weiming, Ning Wang, James L. Watson, John and Anne Watt, Martin Whyte, Jeff Williams, Endymion Wilkinson, and David Wolff. I have discussed issues with scholars elsewhere including John Berninghausen, Tom Bernstein, Chen Guangzhe, Deborah Davis, John Dolfin, Tom Gold, Mel Goldstein, Gui Benqing, Mike Lampton, Perry Link, Richard Madsen, Jean Oi, Jonathan Pollack, the late Lucian Pye, Dick Samuels, David Shambaugh, Susan Shirk, Dorie Solinger, Ed Steinfeld, and Andrew Walder.

I have also been assisted by Holly Angell, Deirdre Chetham, Jorge Espada, Shenpeng Gao, Elizabeth Gilbert, Anna Laura Rosow, Kate Sauer, Shi Wenying, and Zhang Ye. Like all other scholars working on post-1949 Chinese materials at Harvard, I am greatly indebted to the Fairbank Center librarian in the Fung Library, Nancy Hearst, who combines an intimate knowledge of source materials with a seemingly boundless passion to help scholars locate the information they need. She corrected my notes and proofread the manuscript several times. As China grows increasingly important in the twenty-first century, we are privileged at Harvard to have access to a special collection of materials in the Fairbank Collection of the Fung Library that are an invaluable resource for research on contemporary China. Not only are many of these materials unavailable in other Western libraries, they are inaccessible in Chinese libraries as well.

I am also indebted to Jean Hung, who has, with equal passion to help scholars, assembled and creatively organized the most complete collection of materials on this period outside mainland China, at the Universities Service
Centre of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. I was also fortunate to receive assistance from the librarians at the Carter Library in Atlanta, who helped me find and use documents from the Carter administration. My conscientious editor Earl Harbert worked line by line to make the manuscript clear to those who are not China specialists. Julie Carlson, my copyeditor, has been creative, thorough, and tireless in helping me shape the manuscript. Kathleen McDermott, editor at Harvard University Press, has been the creative, diligent, enthusiastic manager who oversaw every aspect of the publication.

My wife, Charlotte Ikels, a specialist on the anthropology of China, has been a constant intellectual companion at all stages of this work. She patiently tried her best to provide balance and spiritual support to a driven workaholic.

Although I served as a U.S. national intelligence officer for East Asia from 1993 to 1995, I have not had access to classified materials in the course of this research. All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author. The materials presented here do not reflect the official positions or views of the CIA or any other U.S. government agency. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. government authentication of information or endorsement of the author's views. This material has been reviewed by the CIA to prevent the disclosure of classified information.

In March 1979 Sir Murray MacLehose, the widely respected Chinese-speaking British governor of Hong Kong, flew to Beijing to explain Hong Kong's problems. Told in advance only that he would meet a high official, MacLehose was delighted to learn after he arrived that he would be meeting Deng Xiaoping, who had just been named China's preeminent leader.
¹
During an intimate meeting in the Great Hall of the People, MacLehose told Deng about the growing difficulties confronting Hong Kong. As both men well knew, the British had ruled the colony of Hong Kong since the Opium War, but the lease from China for most of the land that was now part of Hong Kong would expire in 1997. Governor MacLehose was measured and diplomatic as he talked of the need to reassure Hong Kong people deeply worried about what might happen after 1997. Deng listened attentively to Governor MacLehose's concerns and then, as they rose after their talk and moved toward the door, he beckoned to MacLehose. The governor, well over six feet tall, leaned over to hear the words of his five-foot host: “If you think governing Hong Kong is hard, you ought to try governing China.”
²

Deng was acutely aware that China was in a disastrous state. At the beginning of the previous decade, during the Great Leap Forward, more than thirty million people had died. The country was still reeling from the Cultural Revolution in which young people had been mobilized to attack high-level officials and, with Mao's support, push them aside as the country of almost one billion people was plunged into chaos. The average per capita income of Chinese peasants, who made up 80 percent of the population, was then only US$40 per year. The amount of grain produced per person had fallen below what it had been in 1957.