Deng Xiaoping: The Man Who Changed the World

Abstract

The leader who enabled China to enrich its people and become, for the first time in history, a global power, was not Mao Zedong, but Deng Xiaoping. Mao had never been abroad before assuming power in 1949. Deng had spent five years in France and one in the Soviet Union before 1949.

From the late-1950s, Mao was a dreamer whose policies were detached from reality.  Deng was the implementer. He was a rare combination -- strategist, diplomat, administrator, and the political manager who presided over reform and opening. During the 14 years from 1978-1992, Deng led the transition of the Communist Party from one that promoted revolution into a ruling party, overcoming the deep wounds of a divided poor nation. He was a master of foreign relations, having assumed this responsibility in 1973-75 under the tutelage of Mao.  The excellent relations he created with foreign countries enabled China to learn from them and to concentrate on domestic growth. By the time he stepped down in 1992, China's excellent global ties allowed it, a mere two decades later, to become the world's second economic power. The key was to follow the path that Deng laid down.

About the speaker

Prof. Ezra Vogel received his PhD from Harvard University. He has been a professor at Harvard University since 1967. He has served as director of Harvard's Fairbank Center (1972-1976, 1995-1999), of the US-Japan Program (1980-1987) and of Harvard's undergraduate program in East Asia Studies (1972-1989); he was the founding director of the Asia Center (1997-1999).  He is currently Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University.

Prof. Vogel has authored books on China and Japan, including Japan’s New Middle Class, Canton Under Communism, Japan as Number One: Lessons for America, One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong Under Reform, Is Japan Still Number One?, and Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China. He lectures frequently in Asia in Chinese and Japanese. He was National Intelligence Officer for East Asia in Washington, D. C. in 1993-1995, director of the American Assembly on China in 1997, and co-director of the Asia Foundation Task Force on Asian Policy in 2000. 

Prof. Vogel has received ten honorary degrees. He received the Japan Foundation Prize in 1996 and the Japan Society Prize in 1998. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2008 he received the Harvard Graduate School Centennial Medal for contribution to society.