Cat theory (Deng Xiaoping)

The cat theory (simplified Chinese: 猫论; traditional Chinese: 貓論) of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China between 1978 and 1989, is a pragmatic economic philosophy which can be summarized by "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, if it catches mice it's a good cat" (不管黑猫白猫，能捉到老鼠就是好猫)".^[1]^[2]^[3] Deng argued that a planned economy or a market economy are only tools for distributing resources and have nothing to do with political institutions, in other words socialism can have markets and capitalism can have planning.^[4] The cat theory became widely known within the Chinese society after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992, and was an underlying ideology guiding the reform and opening of China.^[5]^[6]^[7]

^ Jian, Chen (November 2019). "From Mao to Deng: China's Changing Relations with the United States". Wilson Center. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
^ Zhao, Suisheng (1993). "Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour: Elite Politics in Post-Tiananmen China". Asian Survey. 33 (8): 739–756. doi:10.2307/2645086. ISSN 0004-4687. JSTOR 2645086. Deng, however, sponsored the 'cat theory,' namely, that 'a cat, whether it is white or black, is good as long as it is able to catch mice.'
^ Zhang, Xiaodan; Yan, Wenjia (June 2022). "Forty-Years of the Modernization of Chinese Socialist Legality: Strategy, Lacuna, and Outlook". German Law Journal. 23 (5): 691–712. doi:10.1017/glj.2022.43.
^ "邓小平：社会主义为什么不可以搞市场经济，这个不能说是资本主义" [Deng Xiaoping: why can't socialism have market economy? This is not capitalism]. People's Net (in Chinese). 17 January 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
^ "The great pragmatist: Deng Xiaoping". The Guardian. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
^ Bao, Tong (3 June 2015). "How Deng Xiaoping Helped Create a Corrupt China". The New York Times.
^ Ruwitch, John (9 August 2007). "China now tries to tame Deng's black and white cats". Reuters.