China lauds reform on 11th anniversary of Deng’s death

BEIJING—No major official celebrations were held to mark the 11th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s death Tuesday, but other reminders of the late paramount leader’s legacy seem to be everywhere in China as the country welcomes the 30th year of its economic reforms.
Nearly 13,000 tourists visited Deng’s commemorative site in Guang’an City in the southwestern Sichuan Province on the anniversary, said Ma Fu, head of the management bureau in charge of the site. He Yan, a villager from Xiexing Town in Guang’an, led her children to dedicate a flower basket to thank the man for her happy life. She runs a restaurant serving local cuisine to tourists and earns more than 100,000 yuan (about 14,000 U.S. dollars) annually. While her parents were proud of owning watches and televisions, her family can now surf the Internet in their two-story home.
“It’s due to Deng Xiaoping. Without his decision to initiate the reform, I would not have enjoyed this prosperity today,” she said. “Deng changed the fate of so many people.” Deng died of Parkinson’s disease and a lung infection at 92 in1997. His impact on the country has grown with time. Thirty years ago, Deng and other senior leaders gathered for the Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The meeting marked the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up drive.
The plenum introduced a series of important decisions on reform which represented a turning point in the history of the CPC and New China since its founding in 1949. The reform and opening policies since then have boosted China’s economy and lifted the country from poverty and backwardness to the fourth largest economy. Deng has been called the chief architect of China’s reform and opening up.
The Beijing News, a mainstream newspaper based in the Chinese capital, on Tuesday looked back at the 30 years of reform and opening up on the anniversary of Deng’s passing. “We choose today to begin our retrospect on the reform and opening up policy that formed the seeds of a revolution that would lift hundreds of millions out of poverty,” it said in its editorial. The Communist Party of China (CPC) website on Tuesday introduced a new book, “The Last 20 Years of Deng Xiaoping”, to commemorate his contribution to the country and its emergence as a global player.—Xinhua