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Some of his epic grandpa moments:
Deng: My birthday? Is it my birthday tomorrow?
Fallaci: Yes, I read it in your biography.
Deng: Humph! If you say so… I don’t know. I never know when my birthday is, and, even if it is, it’s hardly something to be congratulated about. It means I’m turning sixty-six. And sixty-six means decay.
Fallaci: My father is sixty-six, Mr. Deng, and if I tell my father that this means decay, I think he’ll clock me.
Deng: As well he should! You certainly shouldn’t be saying such things to your father.
Deng: I just told you that the Chinese people would never do to Chairman Mao what Khrushchev did to Stalin!
Fallaci: What if I told you that in the West they call you the Chinese Khrushchev?
Deng: [He laughs.] Listen, they can call me anything they like in the West, but I know Khrushchev well; I dealt with him personally for ten years, and I can assure you that comparing me to Khrushchev is insulting.
Deng is so underrated.
i really liked this article. i’m pretty sure i’ve read it before but it was a good reminder.
something’s that stuck out to me was that he understood the material conditions of china really well. he mentioned how he doubts china would have survived june 4th without reform and opening up. he understood that capital wasn’t an inherently evil thing, contrary to moralism, and that it was something to be used to improve the lives of the chinese people.
another thing is it’s interesting to see “left” as what we refer to as ultras and “right” as well capitalist in general. it does make sense to see those things from their perspective having a socialist government though.
good read!
