"Temples Are Only So Big"

Like Deng, the sayings in Selected Works are blunt and pragmatic. Excerpts:

On Mao: Every Chinese knows that without Chairman Mao, there would have been no new China . . . We must not exaggerate his mistakes. If we do, we will be slandering [him] as well as our party and state ... [However,] he acted as a patriarch. He never wanted to know the ideas of the others, no matter how right they could be. He never wanted to hear opinions different from his. He really behaved in an unhealthy, feudal way.

On Jiang Qing, Mao's widow and radical leader of the now discredited Gang of Four: She is a very, very evil woman. She is so evil that any evil thing you say about her is not evil enough.

On the late Chou Enlai: A man who never complained.

On China's future: We will persist in developing democracy and a legal system. This is our party's unswerving policy. But achieving democracy and a legal system, as with achieving modernization, cannot be done with a great leap.

On youth: A section of the youth is discontented with certain social realities. There is nothing strange or terrible about that, but we must guide them well, otherwise we will do them harm.

On replacing China's aging leadership: If this question is left unresolved when we [veteran leaders] have all passed away, there could be great disorder. Do not be so sure great disorder cannot happen in China again . .. The temples are only so big and can accommodate only a certain number of Buddhas. If the old ones do not move out, the young ones cannot move in.

On himself: Comrade Mao was not opposed to respecting talents. When he made an assessment of me, he said [I was] "a rare talent." But after examining myself, I see it was an overassessment... If the party would permit me to retire today, I would retire immediately. This is the truth. But looking at the whole undertaking I still cannot retire. I think everyone would disapprove. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.