Twenty-four years ago, during the “June 4th Incident” at Tiananmen Square, the Beijing leaders, led by Deng Xiaoping, ordered the killing of students who demonstrated on behalf of democracy and human rights. The number of people killed during those days is disputed but it was at least 200 people, possibly well over a thousand. Ever since Deng Xiaoping has continued to kill Chinese people, even after his own death.
It is, for example, common in China that smokers refer to Deng Xiaoping saying: “Look at Deng. He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and yet he lived to be over 90. Surely smoking can’t be that bad.”
Or consider the reintroduction of capitalism into China that Deng initiated. According to yesterday’s New York Times 1.2 million people die prematurely in China every year as a result of air pollution.
These deaths are the result of leaders whose decisions can’t be crticized. This includes Deng’s tobacco habit. No one dared to ridicule the supreme leader for his vice and that’s why smokers can go on referring to him as a model.