Another one of Deng’s Major Policies was the “one country, two systems” model. During the Opium War, the British defeated China and China had to give Hong Kong to Britain. When the Communists defeated the Nationalists, Chiang Kaishek escaped to Taiwan and since then, Taiwan became independent. The Portuguese took Macao away. In order to get those three places back to as part of China, Deng developed the “one country, two systems” model and applied it to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. So far this policy worked for Hong Kong and Macao. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 and Macao returned in 1999. Taiwan is still independent. But overall, this policy worked well.
The other major policy that Deng had made was the economic liberalization. This policy includes economic reform, the opening up to foreign countries and the establishment of the special economic zones. In the 1980s, Deng started to make some economic reforms in China based on the Four Modernizations, which is the modernization of agriculture, industry, science and technology and the military. Deng opened up China to foreign countries. Foreigners came to China and built up their business in China. Chinese students were sent aboard to foreign countries for further education. During the Cultural Revolution, many students quitted school in order to make chaos as the Red Guards. Colleges and universities were closed. The education of a whole young generation had been lost. After the Cultural Revolution, a lot of those people couldn’t find good jobs since they never finished school. When Deng sent those young people to foreign countries for further education, those people were so glad that they finally had a chance to learn more things and hopefully be able to find a good job when they return. In the early 1980s, Deng established the special economic zones, such as the Guangdong Province, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou. Those zones have special economic systems and policies. The special part of the Special Economic Zones includes special tax incentives for foreign investments; greater independence on international trade activities, and economic characteristics are represented as "4 primacies ". Due to those special policies, the Special Economic Zones were able to develop very fast and the economic in those areas are quite good.
Deng had made many great policies but he also made some mistakes. On June 4th, 1989, many Chinese students were killed in the Tiananmen Square. The event was called the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Many students came to the Tiananmen Square and demanded for democracy. Those students wouldn’t go away, they stayed there and made chaos. Deng ordered the crack down on the Tiananmen Square. He ordered the military to settle down the students. Many Western historians blamed Deng for the massacre of the students. But most Chinese historians justified it by saying that Deng had to use the military in order to settle down the chaos. Either way, the fact that Deng ordered the crack down of the Tiananmen Square and caused the death of many students is true. It is therefore a mistake made by Deng. Some other negative affects of Deng’s policies actually came from some of his great policies, such as the economic reform. Some Chinese people said that Deng had divided China into two. One is the moneymaking China and the other one is the left-behind China. They preferred the way that China used to be when Mao was in power. People were poor at that time, but everyone was the same. But now, there are people who are extremely rich, while others are still very poor. Others said that the daily living prices have soared since the launch of Deng’s market economy and although living standards have improved for many people, those at the bottom of the social ladder tend to feel most of the pinch.
Overall, I think that Deng’s legacy is basically a positive one. He was the one who improved the living standards, and developed the “one country, two systems” model. It is true that his policies also had some negative affects, but after all, his policies improved the lives of most people in China. No body is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. However, Deng’s mistakes are secondary compare to his accomplishments.
