Aug 21 and 23, 1980: Deng Xiaoping says contributions of Chairman Mao outweigh mistakes

Aug 21, 1972: CPC Central Committee, State Council approve construction of 1.7-meter rolling mill project at WISCO

On this day, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council approved the construction of a 1.7-meter rolling mill project at the Wuhan Iron and Steel Company (WISCO). The rolling mill, imported from West Germany and Japan, was one of the biggest imports at that time.

Aug 21 and 23, 1980: During an interview with an Italian reporter, Deng Xiaopeng insisted that the societal contributions of Chairman Mao Zedong outweigh any mistakes made, saying that his contributions were primary, while his mistakes were secondary.

"We will reaffirm that his (Chairman Mao's) contributions are primary and his mistakes secondary. We will adopt a realistic approach towards the mistakes he made late in life." Deng told Italian reporter Oriana Fallaci in an interview on Aug 21 and 23, 1980.

"It's true that he made mistakes in a certain period, but he was after all a principal founder of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China."

"As you know, during the Yan'an days our Party summed up Chairman Mao's thinking in various fields as Mao Zedong Thought, and we made it our guiding ideology. We won great victories for the revolution precisely because we adhered to Mao Zedong Thought. Of course, Mao Zedong Thought was not created by Comrade Mao alone - other revolutionaries of the older generation played a part in forming and developing it - but primarily it embodies Comrade Mao's thinking."