`Special Things in Special Ways': National Economic Identity and China's Special Economic Zones

Abstract

His audience of aspiring Party bureaucrats laughed at the absurdity of a leftist SEZ and the idea of willingly returning to the economic stagnation of the past. Tian' s speech is notable for its political import, supporting Deng Xiaoping's southern offensive to accelerate economic growth and quicken the pace of reform.2 It also demonstrates the transformation of Chinese economic discourse in recent years. Although Tian's target is 'leftism', not socialism per se, his rhetoric deflates the socialist myth. He suggests that state socialist