When Deng Xiaoping died was China still a socialist country?
Thats a very good question. When Deng died in 1997, China was already very much in what is called a market economy. Is it socialist or is it capitalist? It really depends on who you ask. If you ask the Chinese leaders, they will tell you its still a socialist market economy but if you ask ordinary citizens, they will tell whats the difference between a market economy and capitalism except that capitalism is still the big C word. So far, they have been trying to use the word capitalism along with privatization. Instead theyve been using the term socialist market economy but I think in essence, it is a capitalist economy and it is not only a capitalist economy, its really the early stage of capitalist development. That is to say that the market itself is very much in a rubber band kind capitalist economy.
