• Traditional saying, first used in Chinese Communist context by Chen Yun, 1980 December 16, then popularized by Deng 1984 October.Henry He, Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China, Routledge, 2016, ISBN 978-1-31550044-7, p. 287 Frequently misattributed to Deng.Evan Osnos, Boom Doctor, New Yorker, October 11, 2010:
The strategy, as Chen Yun put it, was "crossing the river by feeling for the stones." (Deng, inevitably, received credit for the expression.)Chinese land reform: A world to turn upside down, The Economist, 2013 October 31
Liu Hongzhi, who oversees the scheme, quotes a famous phrase often attributed to Deng, though in fact coined by a colleague: "We are crossing the river by feeling the stones."
Crossing the river by feeling the stones.
• Meaning: proceed gradually, by experimentation.
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Crossing the river by feeling the stones.
• Meaning: proceed gradually, by experimentation." in the context of "摸着石头过河 (mō zhe shítou guòhé)
• Traditional saying, first used in Chinese Communist context by Chen Yun, 1980 December 16, then popularized by Deng 1984 October.Henry He, Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China, Routledge, 2016, ISBN 978-1-31550044-7, p. 287 Frequently misattributed to Deng.Evan Osnos, Boom Doctor, New Yorker, October 11, 2010:
The strategy, as Chen Yun put it, was "crossing the river by feeling for the stones." (Deng, inevitably, received credit for the expression.)Chinese land reform: A world to turn upside down, The Economist, 2013 October 31
Liu Hongzhi, who oversees the scheme, quotes a famous phrase often attributed to Deng, though in fact coined by a colleague: "We are crossing the river by feeling the stones."" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
About Deng Xiaoping