Cat theory (Deng Xiaoping)

The cat theory (simplified Chinese: 猫论; traditional Chinese: 貓論) of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China between 1978 and 1989, is a pragmatic economic philosophy which can be summarized by "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice (不管黑猫白猫，能捉到老鼠就是好猫)".

[4] The cat theory became widely known within the Chinese society after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992, and was an underlying ideology guiding the reform and opening of China.

In 1962, Deng Xiaoping, then Vice Premier of China, quoted a Chinese proverb "it doesn't matter if a cat is black or yellow, as long as it catches mice" as an endorsement for the economic reform policy "sanzi yibao (三自一包, "Three selfs, one contract", household plots, rural free markets, self-financing and fixed output quota)".

That means, the reason why we could defeat Chiang Kai-shek was that we did not follow the old rule or old pattern, but adapting to the specific scenarios.

[15][16] As response, when visiting Shanghai in 1991, Deng stated that "reform and opening up includes taking over the useful things of capitalism.