ABSTRACT
The politics of 1988 were dominated by the relationship between Deng Xiaoping, at age 84 China's top decision-maker despite his semi-retirement, and Zhao Ziyang, the 69-year-old party general secretary, Deng's heir apparent. If the events of 1988 demonstrated Deng Xiaoping's continuing dominance of Chinese politics, they also showed that his decision-making style was becoming less suitable to China's increasingly complex political economy and turbulent society. The shape of the post-Deng leadership remained murky, and the chances remained high that the leadership would be politically insecure. The genesis of the coastal development strategy illustrated both Zhao's links to a circle of young, pragmatic technocrats and his continued dependence on Deng Xiaoping for the political authority to implement radical economic reforms. Throughout society, the Party's encouragement of a new ethic of entrepreneurship had led to a general blurring of boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate economic and social behavior and to an increasing sense of normlessness.
