Deng Xiaoping's southern tour

Deng Xiaoping's southern tour (Chinese: 邓小平南巡), or 1992 southern tour (Chinese: 九二南巡), was the tour of Deng Xiaoping, the former Paramount leader of China, in southern China, including in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Shanghai, from January 18 to February 21, 1992. The talks and remarks made by Deng during the tour resumed and reinforced the implementation of his "Reforms and Opening-up" program in mainland China, which had come to a halt after the military crackdown on 1989 Tiananmen Square protests ordered by Deng himself. The 1992 Southern Tour is widely regarded as a critical point in the modern history of China, as it saved the Chinese economic reform as well as the capital market, and preserved the stability of the society.

During the southern tour, Deng emphasized to several military leaders of the People's Liberation Army including Yang Shangkun, Liu Huaqing and Yang Baibing, that "those who do not promote reform should be brought down from their leadership positions", forcing Jiang Zemin, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to support and continue the Reforms and Opening-up program. He also wished that Guangdong province would catch up with the "Four Asian Tigers" in terms of economic development within 20 years. Some of the notable remarks and comments from Deng during the tour included "I don't care if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice" （不管黑猫白猫，能捉到老鼠就是好猫）, which was originally published by him in 1960s, and "development is of overriding importance (发展才是硬道理)” as well as "[the Shenzhen government] should be bolder in carrying out the Reforms and Opening-up, dare to make experiments and should not act as women with bound feet".

However, although Deng himself mentioned that anti-corruption must be imposed throughout the entire Reforms and Opening-up process and emphasized the importance of rule of law, the Southern Tour did not resolve the corruption issue as well as the widening economic inequality in China, nor did it resume China's political reforms which failed and ended in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.