Getting a lot of this vibe from people working in China. Things getting more ideological. Not good.
Since its inception in 1921, China’s Communist Party has lurched between ultra-left radicalism and pragmatism, bringing about alternating tragedies and triumphs.
In the first 30 years of the People’s Republic, Mao Zedong’s erroneous emphasis on ideology and class struggle, fanned by ultra-leftist nationalism, produced catastrophic consequences.
In the late 1970s, Deng Xiaoping ended the disastrous Cultural Revolution and adopted an open-door policy, which put China on the track of reform and opening up, and which paved the way for its economic lift-off.
Mindful of the devastating results of policies such as the Great Leap Forward and Anti-Rightist Campaign, Deng repeatedly warned that the party should primarily guard against ultra-leftist tendencies, even as it should be vigilant against turning to the right. Wary of the constant debate of socialism vs capitalism over the use of foreign technology and the development of the private economy, he came up with the phrase bu zheng lun(let’s dispense with theoretical debate), to focus the party’s attention on growing the economy. More …
