Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qs9v7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T05:58:53.103Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - The leadership theories and practices of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2010

Chao-Chuan Chen
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Yueh-Ting Lee
Affiliation:
University of Toledo, Ohio
Get access

Summary

No one in the history of the People's Republic of China (PRC) could replace Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-tung) and Deng Xiaoping, the former mainly remembered as the founding father of the Republic, and the latter, as the architect of China's economic reforms. Studies of Chinese leadership theory and practice cannot afford to ignore these two figures. Investigation of the distinct leadership theories and practices of these two individuals will enrich the understanding of leadership from a global perspective.

This chapter gives brief biographies of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, explains their major leadership theories, philosophies, and practices, and compares their distinct leadership styles and personalities. In synopsis, Mao in his leadership philosophy believed in “seeking truth from facts,” the “analytical dialectics of contradiction,” and “serving the people.” Mao's leadership practice is largely one of the “mass line” and “democratic centralism.” Deng, however, believed in reformism and pragmatism in his leadership philosophy. To fulfill his pragmatic reforms, Deng practiced experimentalism and gradualism as his instrumentality. Despite the important similarities in their thoughts on leadership, Mao and Deng seemed to contrast sharply in their leadership methods and styles. Mao was more idealistic and holistic, and a visionary on nationalism; Deng, in contrast, was more realistic, details-oriented, and a visionary on economic development. It is hoped that these introductions to Mao and Deng will contribute to a broader understanding of leadership theory and practice from a global perspective.

Type
Chapter
Information
Leadership and Management in China
Philosophies, Theories, and Practices
, pp. 206 - 238
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrew, A. M., and Rapp, J. A. 2000. Autocracy and China's rebel founding emperors: comparing Chairman Mao and Ming Taizu. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Barnett, A. D. 1986. “Ten years after Mao,” Foreign Affairs 65(1): 37–65.Google Scholar
Bergmann, T. 1993. “Changes in agrarian structure and paradigms in the agricultural policies of the PR China,” Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture 32(1): 36–44.Google Scholar
Bisson, T. A. 1973. Yenan in June 1937: talks with the Communist leaders. Berkeley: Center for Chinese Studies, University of California.
Chai, W., and Chai, M. L. 2001. “Confucianism,” in Lipset, S. M. (ed.), Political man, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 35–36.
Chen, K., Jefferson, G. H., and Singh, I. 1992. “Lessons from China's economic reform,” Journal of Comparative Economics 16(2): 201–225.Google Scholar
Chen, Z., and Yang, G. 1992. Deng Xiaoping zhexue sixiang yanjiu (Studies of Deng Xiaoping's philosophical thoughts). Shenyang: Liaoning Renmin Chubanshe.
Deming, W. E. 1993. The new economics. London: MIT Press.
Deng, Xiaoping 1984. Selected works of Deng Xiaoping (1975–1982). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Deng, Xiaoping 1992. Selected works of Deng Xiaoping (1938–1965). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Deng, Xiaoping 1994. Selected works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. III. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Dernberger, R. F. 1999. “The People's Republic of China at 50: the economy,” China Quarterly 15: 606–615.Google Scholar
Dittmer, L. 1974. “Power and personality in China,” Studies in Comparative Communism 7(1/2): 21–49.Google Scholar
Dow, T. I. 1977. Confucianism vs. Marxism: an analytical comparison of the Confucian and Marxian theories of knowledge-dialectical materialism. Washington, DC: University Press of America.
Evans, R. 1997. Deng Xiaoping and the making of modern China. London: Penguin.
Gehani, R. 1994. “The tortoise vs. the hare,” Quality Progress 27: 99–103.Google Scholar
Gorman, R. A. 1982. Neo-Marxism: the meanings of modern radicalism. London: Greenwood Press.
Han, Z. 1987. Mao Zedong. Taipei: Tianyuan Chubanshe.
Harding, H. 1997. “China after Deng Xiaoping: minimal immediate impact,” Asian Affairs: An American Review 24(2): 78–84.Google Scholar
Knight, N. 1990 (ed.). Mao Zedong on dialectical materialism: writings on philosophy, 1937. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Knight, N. 2005. Marxist philosophy in China: From Qu Qiubai to Mao Zedong, 1923–1945. New York: Springer.
Li, Z. 1994. The private life of Chairman Mao: the memoirs of Mao's personal physician, trans. Hung-chao, Tai. New York: Random House.
Liou, K. T. 1999. “Strategies and lessons of China's post-Mao economic development,” Policy Studies Review 16(1): 183–208.Google Scholar
Liu, C. 2001. Deng Xiaoping's san qi san luo (Deng Xiaoping's three rises and falls). Shenyang: Liaoning Renmin Chubanshe.
Luo, J. 2005a (ed.). China today: an encyclopedia of life in the People's Republic. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Luo, J. 2005b. “Reforms of Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997),” in Luo (ed.), pp. 118–121.
Mao, Tse-Tung. 1954a. Selected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. I. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Mao, Tse-Tung. 1954b. Selected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. II. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Mao, Zedong. 1957. Jianguo yilai Mao Zedong wengao (Mao Zedong's manuscripts since 1949), vol. VI. Beijing: Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe.
Mao, Zedong. January 30, 1962. “7000 cadres speech,” cited in Schram (1974, pp. 163–164).
Mao, Zedong. July 8, 1966. “Private letter to Jiang Qing,” cited in Oksenberg (1977, p. 90).
Mao, Zedong. 1975. Selected works of Mao Zedong, vol. III. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Mao, Zedong. 1988. Mao Zedong zhexue pizhuji (The philosophical annotations of Mao Zedong). Beijing: Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe.
Metzger, T. A. 1977. Escape from predicament: Neo-Confucianism and China's evolving political culture. New York: Columbia University Press.
Mitin, M. B. 1936. Bianzhengfaweiwulun yu lishiweiwulun (Dialectical and historical materialism), trans. Shen Zhiyuan. n.p.: Shangwu Yinshuguan.
Naím, N. 2005. “Three wise men,” Foreign Policy 146: 96–97.Google Scholar
Oksenberg, M. 1977. “The political leader,” in Wilson (ed.), pp. 70–116.
Ostrov, B. C. 2005. “Something of value: the religious response to de-Maoization in China,” Social Science Journal 42(1): 55–70.Google Scholar
Pye, L. W. 1976. Mao Tse-tung: the man in the leader. New York: Basic Books.
Pye, L. W. 1986. “On Chinese pragmatism in the 1980s,” China Quarterly 106 (January): 207–234.Google Scholar
Rost, J. C. 1993. Leadership for the twenty-first century. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Salisbury, H. E. 1992. The new emperors: China in the era of Mao and Deng. Boston: Little, Brown.
Schram, S. R. 1974. Mao Tse-tung unrehearsed. London: Penguin.
Schwartz, B. I. 1977. “The philosopher,” inWilson (ed.), pp. 9–34.
Shan, P. F. 2005. “Mao Zedong (1893–1976),” in Luo (ed.), pp. 376–381.
Shirokov, M., and Aizenberg, A.et al. 1932. Bianzhengfa weiwulun jiaocheng (A course on dialectical materialism); trans. Da, Li and Zhongnian, Lei. Shanghai: Bigengtang.
Snow, E. 1944. Red star over China. New York: Random House.
Snow, E. 1972. Red star over China. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Solinger, D. J. 1981. “Economic reform via reformulation in China: where do rightist ideas come from?Asian Survey 21(9): 947–960.Google Scholar
Stewart, W. 2001. Deng Xiaoping. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner.
Tang, Y. J. 1991. Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity and Chinese culture. Beijing: University of Peking, Council for Research in Values and Philosophy.
Wagner, R. G. 2003. A Chinese reading of the Daodejing: Wang Bi's commentary on the Laozi with critical text and translation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Wilson, D. 1977. “Introduction,” in Wilson (ed.), pp. 1–8.
Wilson, D. 1977 (ed.). Mao Tse-tung in the scales of history. London: Cambridge University Press.
Wu, T. W. 1983. Lin Biao and the Gang of Four: Contra-Confucianism in historical and intellectual perspective. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
Yang, X. 2005. “Politics of Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997),” in Luo (ed.), pp. 114–117.
Yu, S. 1995. Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong. Beijing: Central Party School Press (in Chinese).
Zheng, Y. 1999. “Political incrementalism: political lessons from China's 20 years of reform,” Third World Quarterly 20(6): 1157–1177.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×