Deng Xiaoping's southern tour (Chinese: 邓小平南巡), or 1992 southern tour (九二南巡), or simply Nanxun (南巡) was the tour of Deng Xiaoping, the third paramount leader of China, in southern China, including in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Shanghai, from 18 January to 21 February 1992. The talks and remarks made by Deng during the tour resumed and reinforced the implementation of his "reform and opening up" program in mainland China, which had come to a halt after the military crackdown on 1989 Tiananmen Square protests ordered by Deng himself. After Tiananmen Square incident, there was a lack of belief in the Chinese Communist Party both at home and abroad. The US and EU both issued arms embargoes while the World Bank and Asian Development Bank stopped issuing loans to China. The 1992 Southern Tour is widely regarded as a critical point in the modern history of China, as it saved the Chinese economic reform as well as the capital market, and preserved societal stability. It not only preserved stability inside of China, but it was reassuring to foreign countries who had begun to invest large amounts of money into China.
During the southern tour, Deng emphasized to several military leaders of the People's Liberation Army including Yang Shangkun, Liu Huaqing and Yang Baibing, that "those who do not promote reform should be brought down from their leadership positions", forcing Jiang Zemin, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to support and continue the Reforms and Opening-up program. He also wished that Guangdong province would catch up with the Four Asian Tigers in terms of economic development within 20 years. Some of the notable remarks and comments from Deng during the tour included "I don't care if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice" (cat theory), which was originally published by him in 1960s, and "development is of overriding importance (发展才是硬道理)" as well as "[the Shenzhen government] should be bolder in carrying out the Reforms and Opening-up, dare to make experiments and should not act as women with bound feet".
