In November 1978, When Deng Xiaoping was invited to visit Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, who had rarely been personally picked up at the airport, rarely appeared and shook hands with Deng Xiaoping cordially at the airport. At that time, Deng Xiaoping was visiting as vice premier of the State Council, while Singapore received him with the standard of a premier, and this unusual treatment was enough to show the importance That Lee Kuan Yew attached to Deng Xiaoping's visit.
During this trip, Deng Xiaoping also visited six other Asian countries, such as Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia, and the development and changes of neighboring countries made Deng Xiaoping and his party have a deeper understanding of the rapid changes in the world.
As Mr. Deng sat on Japan's 210-kilometer-per-hour Shinkansen, his profound remarks began to give the outside world a glimpse into China's future development.
It feels fast, and it has the meaning of urging people to run. We are now fit to ride in a car like this.
If China wants to catch up with the pace of world development, it must open its doors and explore a path suitable for China's own development.
During Deng Xiaoping's foreign visit, the Central Work Conference, which was preparing for the smooth convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, began on the fourth day after the meeting, deng Xiaoping returned to Beijing after returning from his foreign visit, and as soon as he entered the door, he plunged into his desk and began to prepare the text of his speech, which was later an important speech entitled "Emancipating the Mind, Seeking Truth from Facts, and Looking Forward in Unity" delivered at the closing meeting on December 13.
"If a party, a country, a nation proceeds from the very beginning, if ideology is rigid and superstition prevails, then it cannot move forward. If reforms are not carried out now, our cause of modernization and socialism will be buried. ”
Since then, this speech has brought a new direction to China, which is in the midst of development confusion, blown the spring thunder of ideological emancipation, and China has begun to clear the fog and prepare to plunge itself into socialist modernization.
Deng Xiaoping sought truth from facts, and his personality charm impressed Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew is a Singaporean Chinese with his ancestral home in Guangdong Province, he has a high reputation in Singapore, is one of the founders of the Singapore People's Action Party, and is known as the "Father of the Nation of Singapore". On 18 December 2018, Lee Kuan Yew was awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal for promoting Singapore's deep participation in China's reform and opening up. It can be said that Lee Kuan Yew's political career has extremely deep roots with the development of China, especially China, during the period of reform and opening up.
When Deng Xiaoping visited Singapore in 1978, Lee Kuan Yew asked Deng Xiaoping what would happen if I was born in Singapore, and he asked himself ridiculously, "You must be the leader of Singapore, and I will be pushed away halfway through."
Before Deng Xiaoping's visit to Singapore, China had called Singapore a "running dog of US imperialism" during the ultra-left period, but when Deng Xiaoping saw with his own eyes the grand development of Singapore, he was very optimistic about Singapore's policy of opening up to the outside world and introducing foreign investment.
In terms of China's foreign policy, when Deng Xiaoping heard Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's demand to stop the revolutionary export, he did not have the slightest shelf, only paused for a moment, and suddenly asked", "What do you want me to do?", which made Lee Kuan Yew's heart unable to calm down for a long time.
Later, when Recalling this conversation with Deng Xiaoping, Lee Kuan Yew spoke highly of his personality and ideology.
"I have never met a Communist Party leader who would be willing to give up his own opinion in the face of reality and even ask me what I want him to do. Although Deng Xiaoping was 74 years old at the time, he was always ready to change his mind when he faced an unpleasant reality. ”
There is also a small episode, after arriving at the meeting place, the Singapore representative did not have ashtrays there, but there were two in front of Deng Xiaoping, and Lee Kuan Yew knew very well that Deng Xiaoping was addicted to smoking, so he specially explained before setting up the conference room that "Deng Xiaoping smoked and let him smoke."
However, Deng Xiaoping also happened to learn from a report that Lee Kuan Yew was very sensitive to the smell of smoke, so although there was an ashtray in front of him, Deng Xiaoping did not smoke a single cigarette during the two- or three-hour talks, and there was no cigarette butt in the ashtray. The respect of the two is mutual, and the personality charm of these two politicians can be felt from the small things.
During the visit, Deng Xiaoping also offered to visit the local well-off house, and after seeing the changes here, Deng Xiaoping said from the bottom of his heart, "The same Chinese, why are you so rich and we are so poor?" ”
It is no exaggeration to say that in China at that time, the people's living standards were generally not high, China was rich in land, but materials were still scarce, a huge change was imminent, and how to let the Chinese live a happy life was something that Deng Xiaoping had always paid attention to. This overseas visit made him more determined to build China well.
When Deng Xiaoping praised the success of Lee Kuan Yew's well-off home, Lee Kuan Yew's sarcastic and encouraging remarks made Deng Xiaoping begin to work on China's reform and opening up and other matters after returning to China.
"It's just a small country, a very small achievement. Whatever we can do, you can do better. We are the descendants of landless South China peasants, and you have intellectuals, the most outstanding talents, poets, artists. We are all illiterate and have no fields. There's no way to compare it to you. ”
When Deng Xiaoping left Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew also personally went to the airport to drop off the plane, which was also very rare in Singapore's diplomatic activities in the future.
Lee Kuan Yew took his wife and daughter on a visit to China and spoke highly of Deng Xiaoping
In November 1980, Lee Kuan Yew visited China for the second time, when China had just entered a new stage of reform and opening up, but China itself had undergone earth-shaking changes, and at the same time, as China gradually entered the global stage, the whole world changed, which also allowed Lee Kuan Yew to see Deng Xiaoping's foresight again.
Lee Kuan Yew said that the opening of China's modernization is conducive to the development of the whole Of Asia and even the world, for Asian countries, there will be one more trading partner, for the world, will impact the situation of the United States as a dominant company, and inject new strength into the shaping of the global pattern.
Deng Xiaoping's remarks also made some countries that are watching exchanges with China eliminate their jealousy, saying that China is such a large place and has such a large population that it has no idea of wanting other people's territory at all, and this issue must be clarified, otherwise, neighboring countries and China will not establish mutual trust.
In 1992, Deng Xiaoping mentioned Singapore again in his southern speech, and he encouraged people to go out and see the world, learn from Singapore's social order and discipline, improve themselves, and make China do better. These words echo the shock of Deng Xiaoping's visit to Singapore 14 years ago, and he has never forgotten his determination to promote China's prosperity and development.
When Lee Kuan Yew spoke in an interview with the media about the "challenge" to Deng Xiaoping at that time, he smiled and said, "It was a sentence that I said at the spur of the moment, but Deng Xiaoping always kept it in mind and never forgot my challenge."
The successful convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee means that Deng Xiaoping led the Chinese people to formally begin a drastic reform, China began to change from closed and semi-closed to fully open, the socialist market economic system full of vitality and vitality gradually replaced the highly centralized planned economic system, and China took a key step in transforming into a modern society.
Deng Xiaoping's path as the chief architect of the country
In December 1978, after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Beijing, the second-generation leadership collective of the Communist Party of China with Deng Xiaoping as the core was formally formed.
In 1979, although there have been great changes in the country, there is still a big gap compared to other countries in the world in the same period. On July 15, Deng Xiaoping formally approved the implementation of special policies in Guangdong and Fujian provinces as a pilot to support policies such as tariff reductions and exemptions, attract foreign-funded enterprises and accelerate China's economic development.
In this way, the Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen special economic zones have been established successively, bringing new vitality to China's economic development, and this development model still plays an important exemplary role to this day. In April 1988, the Hainan Special Economic Zone was established.
In 1991, Deng Xiaoping inspected the south and expressed his support for Shanghai's development and demanded that the development of Pudong be accelerated. Deng Xiaoping's Southern Speech in 1992 unraveled many of the major problems that plagued people's ideological shackles. Since then, China's reform, opening up, and modernization have entered a new stage.
I hope that the people of Shanghai will be more emancipated, bolder, and faster.
In 1992, the model of special economic zones was also applied to the development of state-level new areas and Pudong in Shanghai, and in 2010, special economic zones were also established in Khorgos and Kashgar in Xinjiang. After combining the special economic zone model with China's actual situation, it has played a positive role beyond expectations.
In addition to making tremendous contributions to promoting China's reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping also creatively put forward the great concept of one country, two systems for resolving the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan issues, and provided a feasible plan for realizing the peaceful reunification of the motherland.
Deng Xiaoping's death shook the international political arena
Deng Xiaoping died in Beijing on February 19, 1997, at the age of 93. This great man, who had a rough life and experienced the ups and downs of his political career, left this world.
The news of Deng Xiaoping's death shook the entire international political arena, and the headlines of the world's media invariably appeared with the name of one person: Deng Xiaoping.
Overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese have also sent out articles of condolences and condolences in their own way.
Singapore, a country with no small connection with Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up, also had abnormal weather all day, but whether it was rainy or sunny, people went to the Chinese Embassy in Singapore to mourn, and Lee Kuan Yew, who had a deep personal relationship with Deng Xiaoping, also sent eulogies in remembrance.
"Deng Xiaoping was a giant among world leaders, he was a great man who saved 1.2 billion people."
It is reported that on the 22nd alone, the number of people participating in the mourning activities at the Chinese Embassy in Singapore reached more than 3,000, which is enough to glimpse Deng Xiaoping's international influence.
Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, also spoke out urgently, expressing "deep sorrow at the death of China's outstanding leader Deng Xiaoping and expressing deep condolences to his family." On the 21st, the Flag of the United Nations in front of the United Nations Headquarters Building was lowered to half-mast to mourn this great man of outstanding merit.
"Deng Xiaoping laid an indelible mark on himself in one of the most exciting periods of Chinese history, and he devoted his life's energy to his country. Not only will his country always remember the architect of China's modernization and economic take-off, but the international community will also remember his great achievements. ”
In the United States, then-President Clinton said China was playing an increasingly important role in international affairs today, with Deng Xiaoping's bold strategic decisions playing a crucial role.
In Europe, the leaders of Britain and France have also issued articles of condolence, and the countries of the world are deeply sorry for the loss of a great friend.
Japanese dignitaries also arrived at the Chinese Embassy one after another to participate in the condolences, a 73-year-old man bowed three times to the statue of Deng Xiaoping, and then wrote his name on the condolence book, and people knew that this faltering old man was former Japanese Prime Minister Takeshita Den. He said he had lost one of his most respected friends.
Time magazine once commented that Deng Xiaoping "changed the world and his achievements were unprecedented." Deng Xiaoping does not seem to have much to say about himself, as the only written historical sources show that he had evaluated himself.
"I'm a more lively person, a person who doesn't go to the road of death. I am a matter of fact. I am the son of Chinese people. I love my country and people with deep affection. ”
Deng Xiaoping's greatness lies in the fact that, on the one hand, he continued Chairman Mao's ideology and theories and left a rich legacy to future generations; on the other hand, he effectively promoted China's modernization and industrialization, made China "change heaven and earth," took on a new social outlook, and gave a general stereotype of a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Even in the face of the enormous threat posed by the Soviet Union, China resisted the pressure and led it to hold firm, reshaping the competitiveness of China's socialist system and regaining self-confidence for China. Under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, many national policies have truly landed and played a significant role, becoming a truly touchable sense of happiness for the people.
The people will always miss this great man
This old man who once drew a circle on the South China Sea and put the Chinese people on the road to prosperity left us forever in 1997, which made people feel sad and tearful.
With the vigorous support of Deng Xiaoping and other national leaders, reform and opening up became the cornerstone of the mainland's policy, and since then, China and the world economy have begun to be closely linked, and the mainland has embarked on the fast track of rapid economic development, laying the foundation for the Chinese people to become truly rich.
When Deng Xiaoping died in 1997, many of his ideas for China's future development were still in the "infancy", and he was still under a lot of pressure, but it is undeniable that his death was an irreparable loss for China, and to this day, we still enjoy his political legacy. His judgment on the development of the situation in China and even the world is quite poisonous and accurate.
He once predicted that in the next 30 years, the world will not break out a big war, China will focus on the development of the economy, now, everything is as he judged, even if there have been firefights and conflicts in some areas, but there has never been a large-scale war, he has seen decades ago that the world's new competitive point under the trend of globalization is the economy, which has won the opportunity for the mainland to achieve a curve in the future economic development.
In terms of diplomacy, Deng Xiaoping was always known for his tough attitude, but when it came to specific operations, he showed a little flexibility. On the issue of Hong Kong, for example, on the one hand, it has taken a tough stance and firmly stated that even if the takeover of Hong Kong will bring "catastrophic" impacts, China will never give up. When it came to the specific details, in addition to the great concept of "one country, two systems," Deng Xiaoping instructed the Chinese delegation to "grasp the big and let go of the small, taking advantage of the situation, and finally promoting the peaceful settlement of the Hong Kong issue.
Deng Xiaoping's diplomatic style made China show an independent but not lacking in friends in the international community at that time, and in a peaceful and stable national environment, China began to concentrate on the construction of modernization, and China also occupied an active position in the negotiations on international affairs.
Therefore, Deng Xiaoping's death is China's greatest loss. But the people will always miss this great man who bowed down and dedicated his life to the country.
On February 24, 1997, all the central leaders were present to bid a final farewell to Deng Xiaoping and escort his ashes all the way to the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.
Deng Xiaoping's body lay among flowers and evergreen pine cypresses, covered with a Chinese Communist Party flag, and above the auditorium hung a banner reading "Dear Comrade Deng Xiaoping Is Immortal."
From the auditorium to Babaoshan, just two kilometers on the road, the streets along the way were full of people, the people stood on both sides of the road in an orderly manner, and finally bid farewell to Deng Xiaoping, a long period of silence replaced the hustle and bustle of the past, the emotions of grief grew, and there were constant sobs among the masses of the people, and everyone stopped for a long time, their eyes fixed on the direction in which the hearse left, unwilling to leave.
The next day, a memorial service was held in the Great Hall of the People, attended by a total of 10,000 people. At 10:00 a.m., the memorial service officially began, the whole audience was silent for three minutes, and the scene of the memorial service was transmitted to thousands of households through television, and the atmosphere of grief was shrouded in the land of China. Deng Xiaoping's wife Zhuo Lin and her children held the ashes for a long time and refused to let go, reluctant to scatter it to the sea.
Whether life is satisfactory or difficult, Deng Xiaoping has never given up his faith, and it is precisely because of his appearance that China has spent a safe time at the most important turning point, and in 2022, we are still striding on the road to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and today's prosperous world is believed to be as he wishes.