The cat theory (simplified Chinese: 猫论; traditional Chinese: 貓論) of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China between 1978 and 1989, is a pragmatic economic philosophy which can be summarized by "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice (不管黑猫白猫，能捉到老鼠就是好猫)".[1][2][3] Deng argued that, planned economy or market economy is only a tool for distributing resources and has nothing to do with political institution, in other words socialism can have market and capitalism can have planning.[4] The cat theory became widely known within the Chinese society after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992, and was an underlying ideology guiding the reform and opening of China.[5][6][7]
- ^ Jian, Chen (November 2019). "From Mao to Deng: China's Changing Relations with the United States". Wilson Center. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
- ^ Zhao, Suisheng (1993). "Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour: Elite Politics in Post-Tiananmen China". Asian Survey. 33 (8): 739–756. doi:10.2307/2645086. ISSN 0004-4687.
Deng, however, sponsored the "cat theory," namely, that "a cat, whether it is white or black, is good as long as it is able to catch mice."
- ^ Zhang, Xiaodan; Yan, Wenjia (June 2022). "Forty-Years of the Modernization of Chinese Socialist Legality: Strategy, Lacuna, and Outlook". German Law Journal. 23 (5): 691–712. doi:10.1017/glj.2022.43.
- ^ "邓小平：社会主义为什么不可以搞市场经济，这个不能说是资本主义" [Deng Xiaoping: why can't socialism have market economy? This is not capitalism]. People's Net (in Chinese). 2020-01-17. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
- ^ "The great pragmatist: Deng Xiaoping". The Guardian. 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
- ^ Bao, Tong (June 3, 2015). "How Deng Xiaoping Helped Create a Corrupt China". The New York Times.
- ^ Ruwitch, John (August 9, 2007). "China now tries to tame Deng's black and white cats". Reuters.