Good Cats
Cleaning up the back inventory...
Twenty years ago, Deng Xiaoping was asked whether he favored communism or capitalism. He replied that this was like asking whether he liked a black cat better than a white one.
"It does not matter if the cat is white or black," Deng said. "If it can catch a mouse, it is a good cat."
Twenty years ago, Deng Xiaoping was asked whether he favored communism or capitalism. He replied that this was like asking whether he liked a black cat better than a white one.
"It does not matter if the cat is white or black," Deng said. "If it can catch a mouse, it is a good cat."
1 Comments:
Deng's saying has been reported variously in English, given he was speaking Chinese. And he's been given credit for uttering it in varying contexts. (In the post, I indirectly quoted how a Chinese guide used the maxim.)
In Mao: The Unknown Story, the authors say: "In many places, peasants were allowed to lease land from the commune, and effectively were able to return to being individual farmers [after Mao had forced them into the communes and nearly starved the entire country with his lunatic policies]. This alleviated starvation and motivated productivity. It was in defence of this practice [which Mao supported only grudgingly after his Party nearly threw him out] that Deng Xiaoping quoted an old saying, which became his most famous remark: 'It doesn't matter whether it's a yellow cat or a black cat, as long as it catches mice.'"
Post a Comment
<< Home