Deng still greatly admired by all: Poll

Results show overwhelming support among younger, educated Chinese

A Global Times poll on the late leader Deng Xiaoping has discovered that the former leader is most honored by Chinese people as the chief architect of China's reform and opening-up. Great respect toward Deng is prevailing, it can be revealed, as the 110th anniversary of the birth of Deng approaches on Friday.

The survey, conducted by the Global Times Global Poll Center on Thursday, collected responses from 1,445 residents above 18 years old from seven major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an.

Nearly 95 percent of respondents show "respect" to Deng, with less than 1 percent declaring themselves "dissatisfied" with him. Young and well-educated respondents displayed the highest rate of admiration to Deng.

Nearly 57 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 29 express admiration to Deng, while 49.4 percent of those above 50 years old share "the same respect" for him. Of all educational background, respondents with a bachelor's or higher degree showed the strongest admiration toward Deng.

More than 66 percent of respondents from Guangzhou greatly admire Deng, marking the highest of all cities. Guangzhou is believed to have benefited greatly from Deng's reform and opening-up policy.

China's reform and opening-up policy is also what nearly half of all respondents deemed as the greatest feat of Deng.

Some 30 percent upheld the "One Country, Two Systems" concept, promoted by Deng in the early 1980s on the sovereignty issues of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Nearly 29 percent attributed the notion of socialism with Chinese characteristics as Deng's most remarkable feat.

The higher the respondents' education levels were, the more they were inclined to hail Deng's theory that a market economy also applies to socialist countries.

When asked about Deng's most famous words, a majority of respondents thought the most impressive was his observation of felines that "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice."

The old Sichuan saying was in response to criticisms of free markets and that his ideas were capitalistic. It means, essentially, "Whatever works."

President Xi Jinping also agreed that socialism with Chinese characteristics was the most important political and theoretical legacy of the late Chinese leader when addressing a Wednesday symposium to mark the anniversary.

When asked about the greatest practical significance of commemorating Deng, some 64 percent of respondents chose "emancipating the mind, seeking truth from the facts," a work methodology promoted by the Communist Party of China in the past three decades, as the new leadership has been carrying out comprehensive reform.