Socialism with Chinese characteristics
At the opening session of the 12th CPC National Congress in September 1982, Deng Xiaoping called on China to carve a path of our own and build socialism with Chinese characteristics by applying the universal truth of Marxism to China’s specific context. This was Deng’s answer to the question foremost on everyone’s mind regarding China’s path in the era of reform and opening up. It has since guided China’s reform and socialist modernization.
Meeting with a Japanese delegation attending the Second Sino-Japanese Non-governmental Conference in June 1984, Deng reaffirmed the CPC’s new evidence-based approach to developing socialism, pursued since the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee. He pointed out that the most important task during the primary stage of socialism was to tap society’s productive potential, that the objective of our modernization drive was at a minimum to build a moderately prosperous society by the turn of the 21st century, and that our march towards prosperity would not be possible without socialism. In essence, what Deng had in mind was what he called socialism with Chinese characteristics. This was Deng’s first systematic explanation of the most important policy and concept developed on the basis of the Party’s experience on the ground since that plenary.
The 13th CPC National Congress, convened in October 1987, outlined the concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics by systematically summarizing Deng’s main theoretical pronouncements, providing a framework for what would become Deng Xiaoping Theory. The first reference to Deng’s theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics was made at the 14th CPC National Congress in October 1992, laying the groundwork for organizing Deng’s thinking into a comprehensive theoretical system.
建設有中國特色的社會主義
1982年9月，中國共產黨召開第十二次全國代表大會。鄧小平在大會開幕式中明確提出:，把馬克思主義的普遍真理同我國的具體實際結合起來，走自己的道路，建設有中國特色的社會主義”。“建設有中國特色的社會主義”的提出，回答了進入改革開放新時期后中國走什么樣的道路這一人們最為關心的重大問題，成為指引新時期改革開放和社會主義現代化建設的偉大旗幟。
1984年6月，鄧小平會見前來參加第二次中日民間人士會議的日方委員會代表團時指出，從黨的十一屆三中全會開始，我們制定了實事求是的思想路線，決定堅持走社會主義道路。社會主義初級階段的最根本任務就是發展生產力。我們提出的“四個現代化”的最低目標，是到本世紀末達到小康水平。不堅持社會主義，中國的小康社會形成不了。總的來說，這條道路叫作建設有中國特色的社會主義的道路。這是鄧小平首次在談話中系統闡述十一屆三中全會以來中國共產黨在實踐中形成的最重要的方針政策和理論觀點。
1987年10月召開的黨的十三大第一次提出了“建設有中國特色的社會主義理論”這一概念，并系統地概括了其主要觀點，構成了鄧小平理論的輪廓。1992年10月召開的黨的十四大首次使用了“鄧小平同志建設有中國特色社會主義理論”這一提法，對鄧小平理論的主要內容做了新的科學概括，使之形成比較完整的科學體系。
