The Skeletons in Deng's Closet - By Christian Caryl | Foreign Policy

My favorite quote comes from Deng’s youngest son: “My father thinks Gorbachev is an idiot.”

Oddly enough, whenever Vogel brings up the subject, it’s the party that gets to decide what constitutes Chinese values. The critics somehow never do.

He tells us that some of the critical texts put up to public view on Beijing’s Democracy Wall, the place where a remarkable spirit of pluralism was allowed to flourish for a few months starting in late 1978, “were posted by other young people who were inspired by their newfound freedom but, having lived in a closed society, lacked the experience and wisdom to inform or temper their judgments.” People’s Daily couldn’t have put it better.