From January 18 to February 21, 1992, Deng Xiaoping, then 88, toured Wuchang, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shanghai. “Reform and opening must be bolder and dare to experiment,” he said. “Once we see clearly, we should boldly try and boldly break through.”
“Without upholding socialism, without reform and opening, without developing the economy and improving the people’s lives, there is only a dead end.”
The song “The Story of Spring” praises Deng Xiaoping. Its two verses tell of reform and opening in 1979 and of the Southern Tour in 1992. The lyrics are by Jiang Kairu and Ye Xuquan, the music by Wang Yougui, and Dong Wenhua sang it. It became famous after CCTV broadcast it in October 1994.
In 1997, it was the theme song of the CCTV documentary Deng Xiaoping, and Dong Wenhua sang it at the Spring Festival Gala on February 6.
On December 18, 2018, at the celebration of 40 years of reform and opening, the Central Committee and the State Council gave the title “Reform Pioneer” and its medal to 100 people. Ten foreigners received the China Reform Friendship Medal.
On December 3, 2013, at a study session of the Politburo, Xi Jinping said: “The development of practice never ends, the emancipation of the mind never ends, and reform and opening never end. Reform and opening has only a progressive tense and no perfect tense.”
In 1069, Wang Anshi became assistant chief minister of the Song dynasty and began his New Laws. Asked by Emperor Shenzong what came first, he answered: “To change customs and establish laws is the most urgent task today.”
Wang is famous for three sentences: “Changes in heaven are not enough to fear. The ancestors are not enough to follow. What people say is not enough to heed.” Scholars long accepted them as his. In 1986, the historian Gu Jichen argued that Wang never said them. The earliest record of them is in the Veritable Records of Shenzong.
When the Hundred Days’ Reform failed in 1898, Liang Qichao took refuge in the Japanese legation and urged Tan Sitong to escape with him. Tan refused. “In every country, reform has come through bloodshed. In China, no one has yet been heard to shed blood for reform, and that is why the country does not prosper. If someone must, let it begin with me.”
While awaiting execution, he is said to have written a poem with the line “I draw my sword and laugh toward heaven.” The diary of Tang Xuan, an official of the Board of Punishments at the time, records slightly different wording.
In March 1981, Yuan Geng, head of the Shekou Industrial Zone in Shenzhen, wrote the slogan “Time is money, efficiency is life.” It brought him heavy criticism. Critics called him “a capitalist who wants money and lives” and spoke of “the restoration of capitalism.” The giant billboard was put up in Shekou and taken down several times.
In January 1984, Deng Xiaoping endorsed the slogan on his first visit to Shenzhen. On October 1, 1984, it rode past Tiananmen on the Shekou float in the National Day parade.
苟日新，日日新，又日新 If new for one day, then new day after day, and new again. The inscription on the bathing basin of King Tang, quoted in the Great Learning.
穷则变，变则通，通则久 When things reach their limit, they change. Change opens a way through, and a way through lasts. From the Book of Changes.
与时俱进 To advance with the times. Reports on the 16th Party Congress in November 2002 said that its revision of the Party Constitution carried the spirit of advancing with the times.
On February 10, 1900, Liang Qichao published “On Young China” in the journal Qingyi Bao. “Today’s responsibility lies not with others but entirely with our youth,” he wrote. “If the youth are wise, the nation is wise. If the youth are rich, the nation is rich. If the youth are strong, the nation is strong.”
In 2016, Xi Jinping called for “three distinctions.” Mistakes made in reform through lack of experience or bold trials should be distinguished from knowing violations. Errors in experiments not yet forbidden should be distinguished from defiance of clear bans. Unintentional faults made to promote development should be distinguished from violations for private gain.
In May 2018, the General Office of the Central Committee issued an opinion to set up mechanisms for tolerating and correcting errors (容错纠错). Officials who miss a target but break no rule and seek no private gain are not to be judged negatively.