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On August 23, Lee Kuan Yew College held a celebration dinner for its 20th anniversary.The distinguished guest who was invited to attend the dinner and have a dialogue with the current dean, Koh Cheng Hsing, was Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

Goh Chok Tong, Tan Eng Chye, Wang Gungwu, Kishore Mahbubani and other dignitaries sat in the audience.

The day before,August 22nd is the 120th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s birth.The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a symposium and the central leadership delivered an important speech.

Obviously, there is no logical connection between these two events. It is just a coincidence that they happened one after the other.

Taking advantage of the weekend's leisure, I would like to talk about the story of Comrade Xiaoping, Singapore, and Lee Kuan Yew. This is the final chapter of the series "Lee Kuan Yew and the "Teachers" and Their Successors".

one,

Let’s talk about Comrade Xiaoping first.He went abroad when he was young.In September 1920, 16-year-old Deng Xiaoping took a ship from Shanghai to France to work and study.FranceAfter living there for 5 years and 3 months, I came to Moscow again.Soviet UnionHe lived there for nearly a year. At the end of 1926, he left Moscow and returned to China in February 1927.

The more than six years he spent in Europe left an indelible mark on Comrade Xiaoping.For example, in terms of living habits, he likes to eat bread, potatoes, cheese, drink French wine, coffee, and watch football.

For example, in interpersonal communication, during his stay in France, he established a deep friendship with Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Nie Rongzhen and other Chinese students in France, especially regarding Zhou Enlai as his "brother".

During my stay in Russia,Deng XiaopingandChiang Ching-kuoIn his later years, in order to resolve the Taiwan issue, he repeatedly passed on information to "my classmate in Moscow" Chiang Ching-kuo through various channels. In 1985, when meeting Lee Kuan Yew, Comrade Xiaoping said:Please give him your regards next time you see him. I hope that students can cooperate with each other.

In addition to external factors, internal influences are more important.The experience of going abroad broadened his horizons。

The Chinese revolution followed the path of "surrounding the cities from the countryside". A large number of cadres came from farmers and grew up in rural environments. After the founding of New China, due to the special domestic and international environment, they could only carry out construction behind closed doors. Therefore,Before the reform and opening up, the vast majority of cadres had never been abroad.In a self-enclosed environment, it is difficult to discover one's own shortcomings and the strengths of others, and it is easy to become self-satisfied or even self-indulgent.

Comrade Xiaoping was one of the few revolutionaries of the older generation who had visited developed capitalist countries before the reform and opening up.Life in Europe opened his eyes. As the saying goes, "there is no harm without comparison", that experience made him realize the huge gap between China and developed countries in modernization, and gave him a sense of urgency to reform and open up and catch up.

It can be said that his experience in Europe determined his life's destiny and also influenced the course of China's history.

When talking about 1978, many people will think of the reform and opening up. But before the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, there was another event with far-reaching impact.

On June 23, regarding the work of sending overseas students, Comrade Xiaoping said: "I am in favor of increasing the number of overseas students, mainly studying natural sciences," "We should send tens of thousands, not just eight or ten," and "we should do everything possible to speed up the pace of sending overseas students, and expand the path further and further."

At that time, China and the United States had not yet established formal diplomatic relations. Regarding sending students to study in the United States, some people worried that the students might not return to China. Comrade Xiaoping replied:As long as China develops well, I believe they will come back. If China still can't develop in 10 years, I don't want them to come back, it's useless to come back...

If we extend this further, this connotation is consistent with the study abroad policy established by China many years later.

In 1993, the Third Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee clearly proposed the “Support studying abroad, encourage returning home, and freedom of coming and going” policy for studying abroad. Twenty years later, in 2013, at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Western Returned Scholars Association, the central leadership further proposed “Support studying abroad, encourage returning home, freedom of coming and going, and play a role” is the 16-character policy for studying abroad.

two,

Comrade Xiaoping always had a very valuable quality - pragmatism.This makes him neither arrogant nor self-deprecating as a "son of the Chinese people".

He claimed that he had not read much, but believed in seeking truth from facts. "To be more precise, I am a pragmatic person." At the beginning of reform and opening up, he dared to admit China's backwardness.

In 1978, when he visited Japan, he talked about being "poor" everywhere, and the Japanese said that this was a sign of confidence. "I am ugly, why should I pretend to be beautiful?The Soviet Union suffered from this. It thought everything was good, but in fact its agriculture and technology were very backward. It ended up deceiving itself.”

Later, when he met with the main leaders of Chinese institutions in Singapore, he said: "We are poor, why should we be so ostentatious? We are poor, so we should not pretend to be rich. We should wait until things get better."

In 1980, when meeting with foreign guests, he said: "I once said in Japan that if a person is not beautiful, it is not possible to dress up as a beauty.An honest attitude can improve our work and develop our country. If we don't know ourselves, there is no hope.”

Admitting backwardness does not mean being content with being backward. Only when we know shame and then have courage and realize the gap can we strive to be the first, innovate, learn from others' strengths and make up for our weaknesses, thus narrowing the gap with developed countries.

Since we are talking about Singapore, it is necessary to mention that Comrade Xiaoping visited Singapore twice during his lifetime.

Once was in 1920, when he took a ship to France to work and study, and passed through Singapore.Some people may ask, if he went there and came back, he had to go through Singapore to return to China, right? In fact, he returned to China from Moscow by land. In January 1926, he took a train from Paris, passing through Germany and Poland, and arrived in the Soviet Union. In Moscow, he took the Russian name "Dozorov" andSun Yat-sen UniversityIn November 1926, he received a notice to end his stay in the Soviet Union and return to China ahead of schedule. The group first took a train and then a car, and returned to China in February 1927.

Another time was in 1978, when he visited Singapore before the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee.Especially this time, Comrade Xiaoping returned to politics again, and as Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China, Vice Premier of the State Council and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, he came to witness the rise of Singapore, a newly industrialized country, with a mentality of learning from others.

In Singapore, Comrade Xiaoping visited the Housing and Development Board (now the Housing and Development Board) and listened to thePublic HousingHe then went to the Jurong Industrial Area to listen to the briefing on the development of the area.Industrial Park, an introduction to attracting foreign investment.

As a memorial, he also planted a sea apple tree at the top of Jurong Town Hill, a symbol of friendship and peace.

During this visit, Comrade Xiaoping accepted Lee Kuan Yew's suggestion and shut down the radio broadcasts of the Southeast Asian Communist Party in China. The tone of the central media's reports on Singapore also changed from the past."A running dog of American imperialism", which is transformed into"Garden City", urban greening, public housing and tourism are worthy of investigation and study.

three,

As the saying goes, "Hearing is false, seeing is believing." Only when you have seen it with your own eyes and experienced it personally, can you feel the difference.

Comrade Xiaoping's obsession with Singapore was reflected many times in his subsequent speeches.In 1979, he said in a speech: I went to Singapore to study how they used foreign capital and how Singapore benefited from factories set up by foreigners... It can be said that Singapore's development achievements provided a reference for China's reform and opening up.

China and Singapore established diplomatic relations in 1990. In 1992, with Comrade Xiaoping's Southern Tour Speech, China further promoted reform and opening up, and Singapore's higher education also started a new journey.

In this year, Comrade Xiaoping expressed in Shenzhen that he hoped Guangdong would catch up with the "Four Asian Tigers" within 20 years. Not only the economy should catch up, but also social order and social atmosphere should be improved. He once again affirmed Singapore - "The social order is good and they have strict management. We should learn from their experience and manage it better than they do.”

In the same year, two public universities in Singapore started offering public policy courses. In 1992, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University jointly established a master's program in public policy. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore started offering overseas advanced training courses for Chinese government officials.

In NTU,Managerial Economics (1998), Public Administration (2005)Since both are degree programs for Chinese officials, they are called "Mayors' Class". In 2009, the Nanyang Graduate School of Public Administration was established.

The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy was established at NUS in 2004. It was originally a master's program in public policy established by universities in Singapore and the United States.MPAM(Master in Public Administration and Management, referred to as: MPAM, translated into Chinese as "Master of Advanced Public Administration and Management”) project, which provides public management education for government officials, public institutions and corporate executives in emerging economies. Regarding the MPAM project, the author has introduced it in "Famous People, Famous Quotes and Famous Buildings in Lee Kuan Yew School".

The public administration projects of these two universities won the "China Business Award" in 2011 (NTU) and 2019 (NUS) respectively.

"Business China" is an organization initiated by the governments of New Zealand and China. The "Business China Awards" was established in 2010. It is divided into three awards: Achievement Award, Enterprise Award and Youth Award. It aims to commend people and institutions that have contributed to the friendly relations between New Zealand and China.

Four,

Because he also advocated pragmatism, Lee Kuan Yew paid attention to Comrade Xiaoping's movements and was happy to communicate with him frankly.

In May 1976, Lee Kuan Yew and his delegation visited China and were received by Hua Guofeng, the new Premier of the State Council and the first vice chairman of the CPC Central Committee. Prior to this, Deng Xiaoping had been dismissed from all positions within and outside the Party.

During his visit to China, Lee Kuan Yew’s first stop was Peking University to personally experience the “movement to criticize Deng Xiaoping.”

At that time, people criticized Deng Xiaoping as a "capitalist roader who refused to repent." However, Lee Kuan Yew, who had experienced political struggles, obviously had his own judgment on the scene before him.

In 1978, Comrade Xiaoping visited Singapore. During his first visit to China, he could not meet Comrade Xiaoping, who could only "see the big-character posters and hear the criticism", but now they met officially, Lee Kuan Yew showed him great respect and courtesy. At that time, Lee Kuan Yew was 55 years old and Comrade Xiaoping was 74 years old.

After an in-depth exchange with Comrade Xiaoping, Lee Kuan Yew described him as "an outstanding person".Although he is over 70 years old, he is always ready to change his mind when faced with unpleasant realities.

At the state banquet, Lee Kuan Yew told Comrade Xiaoping that the Chinese in Singapore were just the descendants of illiterate farmers without land in Guangdong and Fujian, China, while the Chinese were all descendants of high-ranking officials and scholars who stayed in the Central Plains. There was nothing that Singapore could do that China could not do or could not do better. At that time, Comrade Xiaoping said nothing after listening.

In 1992, I saw Deng Xiaoping's speech about wanting China to surpass Singapore.Lee Kuan Yew knew that Deng had accepted the challenge he had quietly thrown to him at the dinner 14 years ago.

When he visited Singapore, it had been less than 15 years since its founding. Under the leadership of the founding fathers, this tiny country seized the opportunities of the times and vigorously developed its economy, with a prosperous and harmonious political and social atmosphere. Comrade Xiaoping was shocked when he saw a rich supply of meat and food in the refrigerators of residents' homes. At that time, the Chinese people, who were hungry, were still arguing over the right and wrong of "contracting production to households".

After visiting Japan and Singapore,In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee was held, and the great decision of reform and opening up was made.。

Then, the concise and insightful "Quotations from Deng Xiaoping” also began to become popular - "Poverty is not socialism", "What is leadership? Leadership is service", "Planning and market are both economic means", "Let some people get rich first", "Once you have made up your mind, try it boldly and break through boldly".

In Lee Kuan Yew College, in a place that is not easily noticed, there is a famous quote by Comrade Xiaoping posted: It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice. Translated, it is the familiar saying:It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat。

In 2010, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore, the central leader visited Singapore as the Vice President of the State. On the banks of the Singapore River, he and Lee Kuan Yew unveiled the newly completed bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping. On the back of the statue, it is engraved“Development is the only way forward”That wise saying.

five,

At the end of 1978, around the time of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, 18 villagers from Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui Province, secretly put their fingerprints on the implementation of the "contract responsibility system" for agriculture. The resulting household contract responsibility system eventually became the basic management system for rural China.

The household contract responsibility system is not a "new thing" nor is it an "invention" from top to bottom. As early as 1956, this production form had already appeared in Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province. However, the county party secretary in charge at that time was dismissed from his post and sent back to his hometown to farm because he supported the household contract responsibility system.Peking University Professor Zhou QirenThe article states: The greatness of Comrade Xiaoping lies in the fact that as long as any form of property rights, organization or contract can be proven to promote increased production and improved people's lives, he is willing to use his political prestige to mobilize the state apparatus and provide legal recognition for it under the general title of "socialism with Chinese characteristics."

According to Du Runsheng's recollection, as early as 1962, Comrade Xiaoping talked about the attitude towards rural production relations: "Which form can restore and develop agricultural production more easily and quickly in which place, that form should be adopted; which form the masses are willing to adopt should be adopted.Make the illegal legal”。

This is Comrade Xiaoping's pragmatism.Because any production relations ultimately serve the fundamental purpose of developing productivity.

To develop the economy, we naturally cannot do without private entrepreneurs.After the reform and opening up, he invited entrepreneurs back to China. Regarding "Silly Guazi", he used his political authority to express his views many times.The state machinery should no longer be used to recklessly kill private entrepreneurs.The old revolutionary patiently asked again and again:Does allowing these entrepreneurs to exist really endanger socialism?

Comrade Xiaoping was a vulgar person. He didn't seem to like reading or studying. He didn't study Marxism-Leninism by reading big books. His introductory teachers were "The Communist Manifesto" and "The ABCs of Communism".

He liked playing bridge and mahjong, and he used playing cards to reason. When he was alive, there were always people in China clamoring for a full-scale confrontation with the United States. Comrade Xiaoping said:I know how to play bridge. Don't think you're great just because you have four Ks. Don't forget that others have four A's.

As the report says, emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, he alwaysLet subordinates do things and reform。

In April 1979, the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee proposed that the central government support the establishment of export processing zones.Special ZoneWell, the central government can give you some policies, and you can do it yourself.Cut a bloody pathIn July of the same year, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council approved Guangdong and Fujian provinces to implement "special policies, flexible measures and take the lead" and to pilot special export zones.

He was also obsessed with Jin Yong's martial arts novels. In 1981, he met Jin Yong in Beijing. This was the first Hong Kong compatriot he met after he returned to the leadership position.

Jin Yong has also expressed many times that the person he admires most in his life is Deng Xiaoping."Jin Yong" is the pen name of Louis Cha. 2024 will be the 100th anniversary of Louis Cha's birth. I have recorded that period in "That Year, Louis Cha Retreated to Singapore and Renewed His Life".

The truth is simple. Looking at Comrade Xiaoping's "rule by doing nothing" reminds me of the words on the wall of Lee Kuan Yew College: When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.

This sentence comes from the Tao Te Ching -When the work is done, the people all say: I did it naturally.As the founder of Taoism, Laozi believed that the most brilliant ruler was leisurely and rarely issued orders, so that people could not even feel his presence. When things were done well, people thought it was the way it should be.

six,

Back to Lee Kuan Yew College. This college is the only educational institution in Singapore named after the "Father of the Nation". The 20th anniversary is an important day for it.Wang Ruijie, attending the college's anniversary celebrations, was obviously appropriate.

This politician with a brilliant resume, who was groomed as a successor, was once one step away from the position of prime minister. What is commendable is that he curbed his impulse for supreme power, judged the situation, and took the initiative to give up the position due to health and age reasons.

As a result, Singapore's political situation is what it is today.Lawrence Wong, at the age of 52, he became the fourth Prime Minister of Singapore. He is the first Prime Minister born after Singapore's independence in 1965. In his cabinet, all the ministers were born after 1965.

The peaceful transfer of power made the outside world marvel at the stability of Singapore's political arena.Lee Hsien Loong's "handing over power", Heng Swee Keat's "giving way to others" and Lawrence Wong's "duty" all demonstrate the open-minded and upright political character of mature politicians.

During his tenure as Finance Minister, Lawrence Wong was known as the "Finance Minister" for his frequent handouts to help Singaporeans cope with inflation."God of Wealth"In an interview with the media, he said with a smile: "The Minister of Finance is not the God of Wealth and does not have the ability to print money. Therefore, the lack of money and where the money comes from are our (Ministry of Finance's) biggest challenges."

In China, Comrade Xiaoping is the "God of Wealth" of the Chinese people.Because of the reform and opening up he vigorously promoted, the Chinese people have been well fed, clothed and prosperous, and have lived a good life of progress and happiness for decades. The Chinese people pay attention to "respecting the dead and remembering the ancestors", whether it is the 45th anniversary of reform and opening up in 2023 or the 120th anniversary of Comrade Xiaoping's birth in 2024, people pay sincere tribute to him.

Back to the 20th anniversary celebration, among the guests attending the dinner, Wang Gungwu and Goh Chok Tong have served as the chairman of the Lee Kuan Yew College Management Committee. Tan Eng Chye is the current president of NUS. Kishore Mahbubani is the former dean of Lee Kuan Yew College.

After a politician leaves office, his voice is still heard in public conversation. Politicians who care about the people and hope that the country can get rid of poverty and the people can live a prosperous life are always missed.

As time goes by, Singaporeans will inevitably think of Lee Kuan Yew, and Chinese people will always remember Comrade Xiaoping, who was praised by Lee Kuan Yew as "the best among men."