Shenzhen recalls Deng's push for economic growth

Shenzhen recalls Deng's push for economic growth

SHENZHEN, China (AFP): Residents of Shenzhen mourned the death
of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping on the day he was cremated
yesterday, recalling his special influence on the booming
southern city.

Shenzhen, which Deng turned into a capitalist laboratory in
the early 1980s, has become one of the most successful of China's
Special Economic Zones.

"City officials, entrepreneurs, farmers and ordinary citizens"
have mourned for Deng, the architect of China's reform and
opening-up policy and the founder of China's first Special
Economic Zone here, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

All staff in state-run enterprises have been told to watch
Deng's state funeral on television this morning when the state
funeral will be held in Beijing for the paramount leader who died
Wednesday aged 92.

A banner outside the Shenzhen information center, mainly a
conduit for economic information, read: "Most beloved and
respected Deng, we miss you deeply."

"Comrade Deng Xiaoping visited Shenzhen in 1984 and 1992, and
each time he pushed forward the development of Shenzhen,"
recalled Li Youwei, the secretary of the Shenzhen City Committee
of the Communist Party of China.

Shenzhen has undergone a virtual revolution since the early
1980s when it was a small fishing village.

More than 20,000 people have paid their last respects at a
giant portrait of Deng at a main crossroads in the middle of the
city.

Police presence was beefed up at the site, with six police
vans and at least 30 officers visible. The queue yesterday was
greatly reduced to about 100 people.

People there and elsewhere in this southern bastion of China's
economic reforms, were reluctant to speak about Deng, and the
atmosphere was uneasy.

A taxi-driver surnamed Wang said: "The political situation in
China is still unclear. If (President) Jiang (Zemin) gains power
political and economic stability can be continued. Otherwise many
people will jump to their deaths because of a possible slump in
the stock market.

"Personally I don't think the current stability is permanent.
It's just on the surface."

Some tourist centers, including the Window on the World theme
park, the China Folk Culture Villages and scenic spots will be
closed on the day of Deng's funeral in Beijing.

Street stall owner Zheng Paiofu told AFP the queues to pay
tribute to Deng were "under the management of public security
officers".

A foreign affairs department official said there had been no
word of official mourning activities. Some state enterprises are
expected to hold their own memorials.

In one of Deng's last publicized trips in 1992, he said that
socialism also needed a market economy.

"Guided by Deng's theory of building socialism with Chinese
characteristics, we have made experiments and achieved great
progress in recent years," Li said.

On the 42nd floor of the World Trade Tower, a symbol of the
city's fast growth, the vice-president of the Tower Estate Group,
Zha Shengming, recalled Deng's famous speech made right there on
Jan. 20, 1992.

"Our tower is no longer the tallest building in Shenzhen.
However, that indicates that the city is developing better thanks
to Deng's guidance," Xinhua quoted Zha as saying.

Deng Zhibiao, a fisherman-turned-entrepreneur, recalled the
moment Deng Xiaoping visited the village of Yumin on his first
trip in January 1984, and encouraged him and fellow villagers to
achieve common prosperity.

Deng Zhibiao, now the manager of the Yufeng Co. Ltd, said the
village owns more than 40 million yuan-worth of fixed assets,
compared with only some two million yuan-worth in 1984.