Deng Xiaoping and Socialist Modernization of China

Deng Xiaoping proposed that China's modernization in the new era might be divided into three stages, that China's modernization is socialist in nature, that economic construction is the means to the realization of modernization, and at the same time the four cardinal principles should be adhered to and the policy of reform and opening to the outside world should be implemented, that a balance of material civilization and spiritual civilization should be kept, and that socialist democracy and legal system should be strengthened so as to provide the political and legal guarantee for socialist modernization. He expedited the course of China's modernization and exerted revolutionary influence on the social progress and development of China.