** History’s Finest Bureaucrat **
冷静观察，站稳脚跟，沉着应付，韬光养晦，善于守拙，绝不当头，有所作为 Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership.
Amazing that there isn’t more written about Deng, doubly amazing that this serves as the authoritative account both in english and in Chinese (see: Chinese Goodreads Link) minus a full retelling of June 4th 1989.
More to come.