The Nanxun Legacy and China's Development in the Post-Deng Era

In the spring of 1992, Deng Xiaoping made a historical tour of south China, popularly known as the Nanxun ("southern tour"). During the tour, he boldly called for more radical economic reform and further opening up of China. The Nanxun has become a political landmark in the history of the People's Republic of China, much like great events such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Deng Xiaoping has left his own legacy for the country. The Nanxun belongs to Deng, just as the 1911 revolution belongs to Sun Yat-sen and the communist revolution to Mao Zedong.In this collection of articles, leading China scholars and experts analyze how the Nanxun has sparked off dynamic economic growth in China and drastically changed the political and social landscape of the country.