邓小平文选/吉布尼：我们想，中国这样一个国家多少年来，对美国来说是关闭的，现在要这样高速度实现现代化，真是一个了不起的大挑战，确实像重新开展一场革命似的。

The aim of our revolution is to liberate and expand the productive forces.

Without expanding the productive forces, making our country prosperous and powerful, and improving the living standards of the people, our revolution is just empty talk.

We oppose the old society and the old system because they oppressed the people and fettered the productive forces.

The Gang of Four said it was better to be poor under socialism than to be rich under capitalism.

Of course, we do not want capitalism, but neither do we want to be poor under socialism.

This superiority should be demonstrated in that socialism provides more favourable conditions for expanding the productive forces than capitalism does.

This superiority should have become evident, but owing to our differing understanding of it, the development of the productive forces has been delayed, especially during the past ten-year period up to 1976.

In the early 1960s, China was behind the developed countries, but the gap was not as wide as it is now.

Over the past 11 or 12 years, from the end of the 1960s through the 1970s, the gap has widened

because other countries have been vigorously developing their economies, science and technology, with the rate of development no longer being calculated in terms of years, not even in terms of months, but in terms of days.

For a fairly long period of time since the founding of the People's Republic, we have been isolated from the rest of the world.

For many years this isolation was not attributable to us; on the contrary, the international anti-Chinese and anti-socialist forces confined us to a state of isolation.

However, in the 1960s when opportunities to increase contact and cooperation with other countries presented themselves to us, we isolated ourselves.

We must realize the four modernizations.

Some people doubt whether we can accomplish the modernization drive and ask us on what basis we can achieve the four modernizations.

We enjoy four favourable conditions for attaining the goal of modernization as follows.

China is a country with vast territory and abundant energy and mineral resources, including almost all the ferrous, nonferrous and rare metals.

If these resources are exploited, they will produce great economic power.

Second, over the past 30 years, regardless of the follies that we have committed, we have laid a preliminary material foundation for industry, agriculture, science and technology, thus creating a basis for achieving the four modernizations.

In short, we have laid the material foundation for realizing the four modernizations.

Third, we believe that the Chinese people are apt.

For about ten years, the mental shackles imposed by Lin Biao and the Gang of Four fettered people's thinking and restrained them from bringing their wisdom and creativity into full play.

But now we are encouraging people to emancipate their minds and reiterating the policy of “letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend”, as was proposed by Chairman Mao Zedong, so as to create the necessary conditions for arousing the Chinese people's initiative and bringing their intelligence and wisdom into full play.

We are strengthening and promoting democracy for the same purpose.