Deng Xiaoping

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Inkstone Index features one important number about China to give you insight into the rising power. Two-thirds: How much of the nation’s wealth was controlled by China’s richest 10% in 2015.  In around 40 years, China has risen to become the world’s leading emerging economy. But the country’s exponential economic gains have been poorly distributed at home, creating a wealth gap almost as big as that found in America.  When the former leader Deng Xiaoping opened China’s closed market to the world in the late 1970s, he famously embraced the idea that the Chinese Communist Party would “let some people get rich first.”  Decades later, while most Chinese people have se

Liu Guo-zhu is the executive chef of the two-Michelin-star Golden Flower restaurant in Macau, specializing in imperial Tan cuisine, which comes from Beijing and has aristocratic roots. In an interview, he talks about cooking for China’s late paramount leader and why traditions are essential for Chinese chefs. What was it like cooking for Deng Xiaoping? He loved dishes with chili because he was from Sichuan. He liked to enjoy a bit of alcohol as well. Back in 1981, there was a big military exercise for six days and he insisted on watching over the whole thing. The exercise was in Zhangjiakou, near Inner Mongolia, and the weather was cold. The quality of lamb from Inner Mongolia was known to