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Abstract
China‟s Mao instituted the Central Planning Commission (CPC) for tight controls. By 1976 when his demise came, China‟s economy was structurally rigid and functionally inefficient. Deng Xiaoping, also a first-generation Communist, became China‟s paramount leader. Mao emphasized „ideological purity.‟ Unlike Mao, Deng was a pragmatist. He reaffirmed the absolute leadership of the Communist Party in China. But he also wanted economic successes. One of his well-known sayings was “It matters little whether a cat‟s color is black or white; if it catches mice, it is a good cat.” Translated, ideological purity aside, Deng wanted the Communist Party to transform the country into a dynamic force on the world stage. The former CPC continued its function in macro planning. However, instead of being a mechanism for control, the restructured CPC—renamed as the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)--has since become an instrument for systemic transformation and dynamic growth.