Chapter 13 1. In memory of Deng Xiaoping: the significance of the Chinese model

In the mid-1980s, I worked in the translation office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had the opportunity to do English translation for the then party and state leaders.The first time I interpreted for Deng Xiaoping was on August 26, 1985, when he met with Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.Before the meeting began, Deng Xiaoping first met with the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Fujian Hall of the Great Hall of the People and listened to the report.Deng Xiaoping first shook hands with Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian, and then shook hands with the Chinese personnel present one by one.When shaking hands with me, Foreign Minister Wu introduced: "This is Xiao Zhang, the English translator." Deng Xiaoping and I also had a brief eye contact, and Deng Xiaoping's eyes were quite peaceful.He asked me, "Where are you from?" I said, "Shanghai." He paused, as if the word "Shanghai" brought him some special memories. "Do you know Xiafei Road?" Deng Xiaoping asked me, his eyes seemed to have a little memory of the past.I paused for a moment, and then said, "It's Huaihai Road." He smiled and nodded.

This meeting left a deep impression on me.At that time, Mugabe was very "leftist" and always worried that China would give up socialism. Deng Xiaoping repeatedly explained to him.In the end, I saw that Deng Xiaoping was a little impatient, and he said firmly: "We still have a powerful state machine." He said it very loudly and clearly.Then he said: "Once there is a deviation from this, this socialist direction, our state machine will intervene and correct it." At the end of the meeting, Mugabe said to Deng Xiaoping: "I believe you will be able to see the return of Hong Kong in a healthy way." Deng Xiaoping said humorously: "It depends on whether Marx can approve it." Negotiate with Marx." Deng Xiaoping's simplicity, wit and humor left a deep impression on me.In retrospect, what impressed me most about Deng Xiaoping was his vision, thinking, sobriety, and grandeur.

The first is vision.Deng Xiaoping was a great strategist and military strategist with a long strategic vision.Generally speaking, Western politicians talk about "what to do in 100 days", while Deng Xiaoping talked about "what to do in 100 years". There are no strategic politicians with such a long-term vision in the world today.As a big country like China, once the long-term strategy is set, the short-term problems are easier to solve.Therefore, Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized in his speeches in the South that the party's basic line will not be shaken for a hundred years, that is, the adherence to "one center and two basic points" will not be shaken for a hundred years.As early as the early 1980s, he proposed a "three-step" strategy to ensure that China would become a moderately developed country by the middle of the 21st century.We still adhere to this strategy today.With regard to socialism, he has always insisted on two things, one is the leadership of the party, and the other is that public ownership is the main body, and public ownership can take many forms.As long as we have these two things, even if there are some problems, such as the temporary widening gap between the rich and the poor, we will have the means to solve them step by step in the process of development, and finally achieve common prosperity.These are all grand strategic ideas across lengths.

Followed by ideas.Deng Xiaoping is a strategic thinker. The image that comes to my mind the most is that he is sitting, smoking a cigarette quietly, thinking about problems, staring ahead, not saying a word, which is really "cool".Before meeting foreign guests, he has to listen to reports.After listening to the report, he often has a short period of time immersed in thinking.He likes to talk about "what's going on in his mind" with others, and many of his new ideas often make people's eyes brighten up.The most eye-catching passage in his conversation in the south is: "A little more planning or a little more market is not the essential difference between socialism and capitalism. A planned economy is not equal to socialism, and capitalism also has planning; a market economy It is not equal to capitalism. Socialism also has a market, and planning and the market are both economic means." At once, the knot that had been entangled in China's reform and opening up for many years was untied.

Sober again.Deng Xiaoping was a very clear-headed statesman who believed that true knowledge could come from practice. He insisted that all foreign ideas and practices should be tested by China's practice before deciding whether to promote them in China. They must not be followed blindly.During the talks in the south, Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized not to rely on books, but to rely on practice.In rural household contracting, the invention right belongs to the peasants, and it was Deng Xiaoping who processed it and improved it as a guide for the whole country.This highly pragmatic practical rationality has enabled China to avoid the traps of democratic romanticism and market romanticism, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.The current belief in democracy in the West, like religion, has overwhelmed practical rationality, and as a result, it has also entered a dead end. The road ahead will only become narrower and narrower.

And finally the atmosphere.As a person, Deng Xiaoping was extremely generous, optimistic and open-minded.He brushed shoulders with death many times in his life, up and down many times.When there is only half a glass of water in a glass, he always sees the half glass with water; when encountering a crisis, he always sees the opportunity behind the crisis. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping delivered an important southern speech, which is a good entry point to understand Deng Xiaoping and his thoughts.First of all, we need to understand the external and internal world conditions at that time: In 1989, "political turmoil" occurred in China, in 1990, Eastern Europe experienced drastic changes, on December 25, 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and the red flag fell, The Western world is cheering. This is the end of history that Fukuyama said. We are pessimistic inside, and there are many people who doubt "how long the red flag can be raised".Therefore, some people advocate to resist the peaceful evolution of the West in an all-round way. In particular, they believe that more foreign investment in the economic field means more capitalism, which has led to the stagnation of many reform and opening up measures and the slowdown of development.However, only when the seas are flowing, can he show his true qualities as a hero. At this time, Deng Xiaoping showed his excellence and convincing foresight.What he sees in the crisis are opportunities, China's opportunities, and socialism's opportunities, but he feels that many people around him still can't see them, so he is very anxious.Only 20 days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he began to inspect the South, and he had something to say.

Deng Xiaoping is the one who knows the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe best among the senior Chinese leaders, and the Soviet model.He studied in the Soviet Union for nearly a year in 1926, and visited the Soviet Union seven times after 1949, meeting almost all the top leaders of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at that time.His basic judgment is that the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe first failed economically, and the failure was due to the stagnation of people's living standards. When I went to the Soviet Union in 1990, I saw that the counters in the largest department store in the Soviet Union were almost empty, and there were long queues in front of the few counters that were not empty. The economy had actually collapsed.So Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized in his talks in the south: "If you don't adhere to socialism, don't reform and open up, don't develop the economy, don't improve people's lives, you can only be a dead end." Now some people only say that without reform and opening up is a dead end. Inaccurate, Deng Xiaoping put the word "socialism" at the top, and he was deliberate about this.

In addition, one of Deng Xiaoping's basic judgments was that the political quality of the Soviet leaders was problematic.According to reports, Deng Xiaoping's private evaluation of Gorbachev was: This man looks smart, but he is actually stupid.I have shared this evaluation with many Russian friends, and they agree very much.Although the Soviet Union had many problems, it still had a good hand, but it was completely fooled by the United States, causing the economy to collapse and the country to disintegrate. Before the talks in the south, Deng Xiaoping made a series of comments on the situation in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. On September 4, 1989, he said: "I think the chaos in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is inevitable. As for the extent of the chaos, it is hard to predict now, and we have to observe it calmly." He also said: "The chaos in these countries When China realizes the second doubling as planned, this is a success of socialism. By the next fifty years, if we basically realize modernization, then we can further assert the success of socialism.” July 1990 On January 11, he pointed out to former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau: "Don't be too happy about the changes in Eastern Europe by the West, the problem is still very complicated." On December 24, 1990, drastic changes had occurred in Eastern Europe, and when the Soviet Union was in chaos, Deng Xiaoping said: "The situation at home and abroad is better than we expected." On August 20, 1991, four months before the disintegration of the Soviet Union , Deng Xiaoping said: Now that the world is undergoing a major turning point, it is an opportunity.

In fact, Deng Xiaoping took a risky move.He is very clear that China should vigorously "utilize" foreign capital, but "foreign capital" is a supplement to China's socialist economy and China's overall strength.China is not controlled by foreign capital, but wants to grow itself, and eventually surpass the West in turn.This is a risky move, probably only China dared to take it, and it has basically succeeded, because we have the Chinese model, we have a relatively strong, promising, neutral government and a very large-scale market.Many countries in the world are making use of foreign capital, but not many of them are really successful. They often do not really "use" foreign capital, but the entire economy is controlled by Western capital. After all, the assets of a multinational company in the West may exceed those of these countries. GDP.What I lament is that in that age full of crises, Deng Xiaoping saw opportunities and hope.The situation in China today is much better than it was back then, but some of us are becoming less and less confident, which is unreasonable.

At present, there are still some debates about the Chinese model in China.In fact, as far as my own memory is concerned, Deng Xiaoping never avoided the concept of "China model".In Deng Xiaoping's discourse, the main meaning of the "Chinese model" is China's own set of practices and ideas, and it is often synonymous with "Chinese road" and "Chinese experience."The controversy surrounding the "China model" in China today is indeed a bit surprising.I remember that when I was in the translation room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I would discuss from time to time some difficulties encountered when interpreting Deng Xiaoping’s party and state leaders. Among them, I discussed whether the "Chinese model" should be translated into "the Chinese model" or "the China model". model".Finally, we decided to use "the China model", which is closer to the original meaning of Chinese.In my opinion, Deng Xiaoping talked about the "model" and the "China model" many times from at least three angles:

The first is a general discussion from the perspective of international politics and economics.For example, Deng Xiaoping emphasized many times that "all problems in the world cannot be solved with one model." In July 1990, when he met with former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, he pointed out: "The most important principle of the new order of international relations should be non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and non-interference in other countries' social systems. All countries in the world are required to It is impossible to copy the models of the United States, Britain and France." Second, when commenting on the international communist movement and the Chinese revolution, Deng Xiaoping also mentioned the "Chinese model" many times.For example, in April 1980, Deng Xiaoping pointed out in a TV interview with foreign reporters: "The victory of a people's revolution in a country depends mainly on its own strength. Revolutions cannot be exported or imported at will like commodities.  … The solution of any country's problems must be based on the actual situation of the country." Therefore, he warned: "Since the victory of the Chinese revolution relies on the combination of the universal principles of Marxism-Leninism and the specific practice of the country, we should not require other developing countries to All countries carry out revolutions according to the Chinese model, let alone the developed capitalist countries should also adopt the Chinese model.... In the affairs of each country, we must respect the parties and people of all countries, and let them find their own way and go To explore and solve problems, other parties cannot act as old-fashioned parties and issue orders. We oppose others issuing orders to us, and we must never issue orders to others. This should become an important principle.” The third is to talk about the development model formed since China's reform and opening up. In 1985, when Deng Xiaoping met with the Ghanaian head of state Rawlins, I served as an interpreter. He said to the Ghanaian guests: "Don't copy our experience"; "It is good to explore your own country's development model based on your own situation." May 1988 , when he met with Mozambican President Chissano, he clearly stated: "China has a Chinese model." He said: "We used to copy the Soviet model of socialism, which caused many problems. We discovered it very early, but It has not been resolved. We need to solve this problem now, and what we want to build is socialism with Chinese characteristics.” He suggested that Mozambique “keep close to the one that suits its own actual situation. All other people’s things can be used for reference. But it is just a reference. It is impossible to use one model to solve all the problems in the world. China has its own model, and Mozambique should also have its own model.” I think the Chinese model, in a narrow sense, refers to China's own set of practices, experiences and ideas; in a broad sense, it refers to China's own set of practices, experiences and ideas and the institutional arrangements and ideas behind it In this sense, the Chinese model refers to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.In other words, in a narrow sense, the "Chinese model" and the "road of socialism with Chinese characteristics" have different emphases; in a broad sense, these two concepts are interlinked. It is very necessary for us to clarify several misunderstandings surrounding the "China model" today.The first misconception is that the Chinese model was first proposed by foreigners.Many articles now say that American scholar Joshua Cooper Ramo first proposed the "Beijing Consensus", which includes a generalization of the Chinese model.While we are basically affirming Remo’s contribution to the study of the China model, we also need to know that Deng Xiaoping clearly used the concept of the “China model” as early as 1980, used it many times in the 1980s, and clearly stated in 1988 that “ China has its own model”, while Ramo did not propose the “Beijing Consensus” until 2004. The "China model" is the key to China's rapid rise and is China's important political soft power. To hand over the invention of this concept to others is neither in line with the facts nor in China's own political interests. The second misunderstanding is that the word "model" contains the meaning of "demonstration, model". We cannot impose our own model on others, so it is better to use the "Chinese model" with caution.But as mentioned above, the word "model" does have the meaning of "demonstration, model", but it also has another meaning widely accepted by the world, that is, a general description of a certain thing or phenomenon, which is roughly equivalent to A pattern of behavior or phenomenon in English (a certain regular behavior or phenomenon).Therefore, the "Chinese model" refers to the induction of "China's own set of practices, experiences and ideas", just as we have used the "Shenzhen model", "Southern Jiangsu model", "Wenzhou model" countless times in the past 30 years. Concepts such as the "Pudong Model" are a summary of the experience of reform and opening up in these regions, and they have no intention of imposing others.In 2006, I wrote an article "The Charm of the Chinese Model" in the American "International Herald Tribune", talking about China's own "a set of practices and ideas", and I did not cause any misinterpretation by others. The third misunderstanding is to emphasize that the Chinese model has not been fully successful and finalized, and it is too early to talk about the Chinese model.In fact, although the Chinese model has shortcomings, it has achieved achievements that most countries in the world cannot match. It has brought about a huge improvement in the living standards of the vast majority of Chinese people and the rapid rise of China. The Chinese model has shocked the world.As for whether a model is stereotyped, it is debatable.In fact, the development model of any country is carried out in a specific time and space, and it is constantly developing and changing. Once it is considered to be completely finalized and there is no need to keep pace with the times, the process of this model will begin to decline. up. Fukuyama put forward the famous "end of history conclusion" more than 20 years ago, arguing that history will end when human beings develop into the Western political and economic model. As a result, the past 20 years have just witnessed the continuous decline of the Western world.More and more people of insight in the West have realized that the Western model must be reformed, otherwise the overall decline of the West will accelerate.The Chinese model is essentially an open model, a model of continuous self-improvement, and a model of advancing with the times, but its main characteristics have been formed and will continue to guide China's progress. According to my own observation, there are mainly two kinds of people in China who disapprove of the Chinese model: one is not in favor of the term "model".They basically agree with China's own series of practices, experience and ideas, but think that the concept of "China's road" should be used, because the concept of "model" will give people a sense of a solidified development path.But as I said above, in a broad sense, the "Chinese model" and the "Chinese road" are similar. The two express roughly the same thing, but the emphasis is different.In addition, the word "model" is more commonly used in the world, and people understand that the word "road" is not used very much internationally, and international communication is more difficult. There is another kind of people who disapprove of the content contained in the "China Model".These people only agree with the Western model. They think that as long as you are different from the West, you have not yet transformed.It is not surprising that such people deny the Chinese model, because from their point of view, how can China have its own model?There is only one universally applicable Western model in the world.Fortunately, most Chinese people do not believe in this evil.If the Chinese did not have their own backbone and insist on their own unique development path and model, then I am afraid that even the country would have disintegrated, and there would be no talk of China's rise. Scholar Pan Wei once ridiculed the latter kind of people's understanding of the "Chinese model".He said that there are three main points of view to criticize the "China Model".First, China is still "imperfect and has many flaws".However, how can there be a perfect country without defects in the real world?Of course, some people think that the United States is perfect and its experience is perfect, so there can be an "American model" but not a "Chinese model".Second, China is still in the process of "changing".However, how can there be an unchanging country in the real world?Which country has not experienced dramatic changes in decades?Of course, the United States has not changed for two hundred years, so there can be an "American model" but not a "Chinese model."Third, China is too special to spread experience, and spread is harmful.However, which country's experience is not exceptional?Of course, the United States is not special. The experience of the United States can be diffused, and it is harmless to other countries. Therefore, there can be an "American model" but not a "Chinese model."However, we know that successful examples of copying the "American model" are hard to find in the world, and failures abound. Even the United States itself is caught in a financial and economic crisis today. Today's "American model" is probably more reflective. object, rather than an example to copy. Ashamed to mention the "China model" actually reflects a kind of political lack of self-confidence, and this lack of self-confidence is the root cause of many problems in China today. "The mentality spreads within a certain range.Some people who only agree with the Western model even think that if China does not evolve towards the Western model, it can only be a dead end.Although the Chinese model is still being perfected, it can still compete with the Western model at the current level. It itself was formed in a high degree of international competition, so its vitality is very tenacious, and its achievements are very successful in adopting the Western model. It is beyond the reach of Western countries, and it has also brought great shock to the West.President Xi Jinping has used the expression "China's road and China's model" in many speeches, which is factual and shows the Chinese leaders' self-confidence in the road and system, which is in line with the overall and long-term interests of the Chinese people interests of most countries in the world.

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