Teng also presided over an equally dramatic but less visible transformation. Just twenty years ago, in the Mao era, everything from the functioning of the economy to people's everyday lives unfolded within the framework of state ideology. Today on the streets of Beijing one can see the fresh imprint of new markets and a thriving civil society. The People's Daily is hard to find. Beijing people are known for their enthusiasm for politics.
Economic data underscores the changes in dynamism and direction in China.
Just ten years ago state-owned industries were the pillars of China's planned socialist economy. Today they account for less than 30 percent of the country's GNP, while privately owned, foreign capitalized firms and new rural-township industries account for more than half. No doubt there is a continuing strong element of personal rule in China, but as the market economy and civil society expand, they steadily shrink the space within which the state and its strongmen can operate, and in this way weaken the tradition of autocratic rule and peacefully lead China onto a path of democratic politics. And more than seven years after the Tiananmen massacre, the sound of breaking glass can be heard in Beijing University on the nights of its anniversary. But given the vast transformation of China's social outlook, Deng Xiaoping could very well be China's last strongman.