Waiting for the Great Leap Forward

"To be sure, the last 30 years have had plenty of problems—corruption, crackdowns on dissidents, environmental degradation, unequal educational opportunities and a failing rural health system. Chinese leaders lacking confidence in their ability to maintain public order are not likely to listen to Western advice on how to handle human rights, minorities and dissidents. China will move at its own pace, but Deng’s revolution demonstrated that it is able to take positive lessons from the West."

Ezra F. Vogel in The New York Times argues that sixty years after the creation of the People's Republic of China, "the true revolution belongs to Deng Xiaoping."