this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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There is a slogan "勤劳致富光荣", which basically means "prosperity through hard work is glorious", it can be shortened to "致富光荣" by removing the prefix "勤劳" (hard work), and this can be "mistranslated" into "to get rich is glorious". I don't think Deng Xiaoping actually said it, because even the Chinese Wikipedia page only mentions that this slogan was "associated" with him and Reform and Opening Up.
However, Deng was confronted with this exact phrase in 1986 during an interview with American TV Correspondent Mike Wallace, this is the excerpt from "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping Volume III" (Foreign Language Press) page 173 to 174: (Theory China ebook link, marxists.org link, Chinese 71.cn link)
Note that the phrase I highlighted, "to get rich is no sin" (致富不是罪过), is also very controversial when taken out of context like "to get rich is glorious".
Key line where he clarifies this here:
Anarchists and "china bad" types will continue to ignore that he's referring to collective wealth.