Editing Four Cardinal Principles

{{Short description|Doctrine of Deng Xiaoping}}
[[File:Silk Road 1992 (4367437041) Market in Xinjiang, 1992.jpg|thumb|Slogan of "Four Cardinal Principles" in a market in [[Xinjiang]], 1992.]]
{{Politics of China |expanded =  Ideology  }}

The '''Four Cardinal Principles''' ({{zh|s=四项基本原则|p=Sì-xiàng Jīběn Yuánzé|c=}}) were stated by [[Deng Xiaoping]] in March 1979 at a [[Theory Conference, January-April 1979|conference]] of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP), during the early phase of the [[Reform and opening up|Reform and Opening-up]] period, and are the four issues for which debate was not allowed within the [[People's Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shambaugh |first1=David |url=https://archive.org/details/modernchinesesta0000unse |title=The Modern Chinese State |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=9780521776035 |page=184 |author-link=David Shambaugh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Deng |first=Xiaoping |author-link=Deng Xiaoping |date= |title=UPHOLD THE FOUR CARDINAL PRINCIPLES (excerpts) |url=http://academics.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/China/Deng/principles.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901045747/http://academics.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/China/Deng/principles.htm |archive-date=1 September 2022 |access-date=2021-01-10 |website=[[Wellesley College]]}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=June 22, 2011 |orig-date=March 1979 |title='Four Cardinal Principles' |url=http://www.china.org.cn/china/CPC_90_anniversary/2011-06/22/content_22838756.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331213225/http://www.china.org.cn/china/CPC_90_anniversary/2011-06/22/content_22838756.htm |archive-date=2022-03-31 |access-date=2021-01-10 |website=[[China Internet Information Center]]}}</ref> The Four Cardinal Principles were one of Deng's Two Basic Points, the other of which was the Chinese economic reform.<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Roderick |author-link=Roderick MacFarquhar |title=Deng's Last Campaign |language=en |journal=[[New York Review of Books]] |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1992/12/17/dengs-last-campaign/ |access-date=2021-01-15 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref>

== History ==
The Four Cardinal Principles were emphasized in the 1981 ''[[Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China]]''<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Karl |first=Rebecca E. |title=Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: a Concise History |date=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-4780-4 |series=Asia-Pacific series |location=Durham, NC |doi=10.2307/j.ctv11hpp6w |jstor=j.ctv11hpp6w}}</ref>{{Rp|page=168}} and were enshrined in [[Constitution of the People's Republic of China]] in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Song |first=Yuehong |date=2015-04-25 |title=Sì xiàng jīběn yuánzé cóng tíchū dào xiě rù xiànfǎ |script-title=zh:四项基本原则从提出到写入宪法 |trans-title=From the proposal of the four basic principles to the writing into the constitution |url=http://dangshi.people.com.cn/n/2015/0425/c85037-26903076.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402101005/http://dangshi.people.com.cn/n/2015/0425/c85037-26903076.html |archive-date=2 April 2021 |access-date=2021-01-10 |website=[[People's Daily|Renmin Wang]] |language=zh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vpQPjOi23Og|title=Caveman Marxists: Frank Dikötter on Whether China Is a Fiery Dragon or a Paper Tiger|first1=Frank|last1=Dikötter|work=GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution|publisher=Hoover Institution|date=23 May 2025|first2=Niall|last2=Ferguson|first3=John|last3=Cochrane|first4=H.R.|last4=McMaster|access-date=27 May 2025|authorlink1=Frank Dikötter|authorlink2=Niall Ferguson}}</ref>

== Content ==
The principles include:<ref name=":0" />
# The principle of upholding the [[Socialism (Marxism)|socialist]] path
# The principle of upholding the [[people's democratic dictatorship]]
# The principle of upholding the leadership of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP)
# The principle of upholding [[Mao Zedong Thought]] and [[Marxism–Leninism]]

== Influence ==
Such principles marked a relaxation of control over ideology. In stating the four cardinal principles, an implication was that these four topics could not be questioned, but political ideas other than those in the list could be debated. Moreover, while the principles themselves are not subject to debate, the interpretations of those principles are.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

On the other hand, the principles were proclaimed as a sign of adherence to the communist ideology, thus paving the secure way to reevaluation of the [[Cultural Revolution]] while preserving ideological stability and legitimacy of the CCP as a response to the [[Democracy Wall]] movement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=ACRadmin14 |title=Opening China to the World: Deng Xiaoping, the Democracy Wall and the Four Cardinal Principles {{!}} All China Review |date=26 February 2015 |url=https://allchinareview.com/opening-china-to-the-world-deng-xiaoping-the-democracy-wall-and-the-four-cardinal-principles/ |access-date=2021-01-10 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Boluan Fanzheng]]

== References ==
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[[Category:Deng Xiaoping Theory]]
[[Category:1979 in China]]
[[Category:Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Reform and opening up]]