Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra Vogel

I'm almost a quarter of the way through this 1000 page book and I'm so glad that I've decided to take it on.  The decision to read a lengthy biography of Deng instead of Mao was the right choice.  Although Mao led the revolution that led to the founding of communist China in 1949, at his death he left it a poor, devastated nation that was regressing, not moving forward.

Although the path towards modernization began before Deng took control in 1978, Deng is the man who solidified and accelerated its phenomenal growth in the 80s and 90s.  Without Deng, the world, not just China, would be a far different place than it is today.

Deng pushed for the transformation in the waning years of Mao's leadership at great risk to his person and his family.  He was in fact punished severely by Mao three times in his life, resulting in personal devastation and strife, including the permanent paralysis of Deng's son.

Despite this, Deng refused to completely bend under Mao's gaze during the final months of that leaders life.  Deng felt the winds changing and knew that if he totally renounced his vision for opening China to the world, that it would not be possible for him to move the country forward following Mao's death.

Much like the death of the "wicked witch" in The Wizard of Oz, Mao's death represented a seminal opportunity for the transformation of China, and Deng stood ready to take the reins.

The movement to open China to the world and accelerate its economic growth came at a price.  In retrospect, the deal Deng struck with the citizenry was this:  We will rapidly grow the economy, bringing great wealth to some and lifting hundreds of millions of others from poverty into the middle class; and we will allow some basic reforms and freedoms that have not been allowed previously.  Poverty will decline markedly and famine will all but disappear.  BUT, the Communist Party will be allowed to continue its single-party rule, without challenge.

This bargain became brutally clear in 1989 as a result of the Tiananmen Square Protests that claimed the lives of hundreds of Chinese students.  Deng, for all of his desire to improve the quality of life across China, would not stand for any threat to the rule of the CCP.

In Deng's defense, he honestly believed that the rule of the Communist party was the best alternative to solve China's ills.  He understood, rightly so, that real political reform would include a revolutionary struggle, a war, that would likely claim the lives of millions.  The French Revolution is case in point.  The only way to avoid this was to keep the CCP in charge, and the only way he knew to earn the people's obeisance was to achieve breakthrough economic growth, and that's what he did.

China is far from perfect, but compared to the crumbling, poverty and famine stricken China left by Mao, Deng put the country on a radically improved trajectory by virtually all measures.