Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour has become a milestone in Chinese economic history. Historians and commentators credit Deng’s visit to Guangzhou Province for reinvigorating China’s market reforms in the years following 1989—leading to the Chinese economic powerhouse we see today. Journalist Jonathan Chatwin follows Deng’s journey in The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China’s Future.
Chatwin follows Deng—from its start in Wuhan, through the Special Economic Zones of Shenzhen and Zhuhai, and back up to Shanghai—and explains how a savvy Deng, then out of office, got China’s leaders to embrace market reforms again.
Jonathan Chatwin is a non-fiction writer and journalist. His work has appeared in CNN, the South China Morning Post and the BBC. He is the author of Long Peace Street: A Walk in Modern China and Anywhere Out of the World: The Work of Bruce Chatwin. Catch our first interview with Jonathan on Long Peace Street here!