Transitional Rhetoric of Chinese Communist Party Leaders in the Post-Mao Reform Period: Dilemmas and Strategies

Since 1978 China's ruling Communist Party has moved China's economy increasingly toward capitalism and its foreign policy toward strategic partnership with its old enemies in the West. These changes have required Party leaders to reconcile the reforms rhetorically with continued homage to their predecessors, to Chinese traditions, and to Marxist/Maoist orthodoxies. This analysis focuses on key slogans and catchwords used in top-down rhetoric by each post-Mao regime to facilitate economic/political reforms while legitimizing continued one-party rule.