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.