Silk Road 1992 (4367437041) Market in Xinjiang, 1992

The Four Cardinal Principles () were stated by

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...

in March 1979, during the early phase of Reform and Opening-up, and are the four issues for which debate was not allowed within the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

. The Four Cardinal Principles were one of Deng's Two Basic Points, the other of which was Reform and Opening. The principles include: # The principle of upholding the socialist path # The principle of upholding the

people's democratic dictatorship People's democratic dictatorship () is a phrase incorporated into the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. The premise of the "People's democratic dictatorship" is that the CCP and state represent and act on behalf of the people, but ...

# The principle of upholding the leadership of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

(CCP) # The principle of upholding Mao Zedong Thought and

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a List of communist ideologies, communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its Soviet satellite state ...

Such principles marked a relaxation of control over ideology. In stating the four cardinal principles, an implication was that these four topics could not be questioned, but political ideas other than those in the list could be debated. Moreover, while the principles themselves are not subject to debate, the interpretations of those principles are. For example, there has been extensive debate over the meaning of

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

. On the other hand, the principles were proclaimed as a sign of adherence to the communist ideology, thus paving the secure way to reevaluation of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated go ...

while preserving ideological stability and legitimacy of the CCP as a response to the Democracy Wall movement. The Four Cardinal Principles were enshrined in China's Constitution in 1982.

References

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Uphold the Four Cardinal Principles
{{Authority control Deng Xiaoping 1979 in China Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party

See also

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External links