Wallace: So far, I have never seen a picture of you in a public place in China; why?

Deng: We do not encourage that. Any individual is a member of the collective. Nothing

can be accomplished by an individual in isolation from others. Personally, I have all

along rejected offers to write my biography. Over the years, I have done quite a few good

things, but I have done some wrong things, too. Before the "cultural revolution", we

made such mistakes as the Great Leap Forward. Of course, I was not the principal

advocate of that policy, but I did not oppose it either. That means I had a share in that

mistake. If a biography is written, it should include both good and bad things, even the

mistakes one has made.

Wallace: Two questions. You say you would like to live to the age of one hundred and

then go to visit Karl Marx; maybe Mao Zedong will be seated by his side. What do you

think those two gentlemen will have to say to you, Deng Xiaoping, when you are up

there.

Deng: I am a Marxist. I have consistently followed the fundamental principles of

Marxism. Marxism is also known as communism. We made the revolution, seized

political power and founded the People's Republic of China because we had this faith and

this ideal. Because we had our ideal, and because we integrated the fundamental

principles of Marxism with the concrete practice of China, we were able to win. Since

our victory in the revolution, in the course of construction we have again integrated the

fundamental principles of Marxism with the concrete practice of China. We are striving

for the four modernizations, but people tend to forget that they are four socialist

modernizations. This is what we are doing today.

Wallace: Everybody is asking this question: in the last few years Deng Xiaoping has done

a good job - he's done a good job in modernization, the economy is developing, people

are not as afraid as they used to be - but after Deng Xiaoping is gone, what will happen?

They wonder whether things will go back to the way they were before.

Deng: Certainly there will be no turning back. If you want to find out whether the present

policies are here to stay, you should first examine whether the policies are correct,

whether they are right for the country and the people and whether the life of the people is

gradually improving under them. I believe that the people are discerning. If the present

policies are altered, their standard of living will definitely fall. So long as the people

think the present policies are correct, anyone who wants to change them will be brought

down.