Given the vitality of China’s economy today, it is difficult to imagine that Deng Xiaoping’s early reforms met any resistance—but they did. This program examines Deng’s transformation from a Maoist functionary into the leader who broke from pure Communism and, despite the highest of stakes, reinvented his country. Helping viewers understand Deng’s creation of China’s Special Economic Zones, the film features commentary from Chinese journalists and political insiders—as well as from Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor in the Carter administration, and Sidney Rittenberg, an American expatriate in China during the Mao and Deng years. Distributed under license from BBC Worldwide. A part of the series China’s Capitalist Revolution. (48 minutes)