Deng Plays the “China Card”: Deng Xiaoping’s Visit to the United States and Its Implications for China’s New Long March to Modernization

From 28 January to 5 February 1979, Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping embarked on a whirlwind tour of the United States. Deng’s visit first took him to Washington, the U.S capital, where he sought the blessing of President Jimmy Carter and pointed out to profit-seeking U.S. business executives the trade advantages that could accrue from helping China modernize. In Atlanta, Houston, and Seattle, the glittering examples of consumer capitalism—shopping malls, mechanized production lines, transportation—dazzled Deng, reinforcing his determination to bring similar Western-style prosperity to his country. Deng’s tour attracted great attention from the American public and media, with the latter describing him as “feisty” and “dynamic” and labeling him “China’s roving salesman.” Deng’s nine-day trip to the United States dramatized China’s quest for American technology, capital, and management, generating a cascade of changes in Sino-American relations. Shortly after his triumphant U.S. visit, Deng launched the so-called Deng Era, accelerating his country into a Great Leap Outward toward modernization.