Policies of Deng leave big task for successors

Less than three years after Mao Zedong died, his successors started to overturn the policies he had championed for 30 years. The same thing is not going to happen with Deng Xiaoping , the second 'emperor' of Communist China.

Deng died last February but the men he picked to succeed him remain in power and are following the policies of economic liberalisation and political conservatism that he pioneered.

National leaders regularly evoke his name and 'theory' as their guiding principle. His face appears on coins that commemorate the return of Hong Kong and, eventually, Macau to China.

The transformation and dislocation of the nation that Deng caused continue at a rapid pace, with the reform process he started in 1978 facing its hardest challenge, trying to turn into efficient, modern companies the 120,000 state firms that were the foundation of the planned economy.

This has led to unemployment, sit-ins and demonstrations by workers - for unpaid wages or new jobs - unseen for 20 years. The gap in wealth between different classes and regions that Deng allowed is widening, both a spur to individual enterprise and a cause of social tension.

The easing of controls on movement, which Deng approved, has led to an increasing migration to the cities of almost 100 million peasants, a movement the authorities are struggling to control and manage.