BEIJING, 1978: Deng Xiaoping has a decision to make. Since the death of Mao Zedong two years ago, Deng has been busy outmanoeuvring his political rivals, finally emerging as the de facto leader of the Chinese Communist Party, and by virtue of that, China as a whole.With his own position now secure, he has more pressing issues to deal with: China is in crisis.

 

Still reeling from a generation of Mao’s capricious rule, the country is starving. The chaos unleashed by the Cultural Revolution, a mass purge of Mao’s enemies – real and perceived – has not been forgotten. How could it be, when barely a man or woman in all of China was left unaffected by the brutality?But Deng has a dangerously simple idea to cure his country’s woes.

 

Almost 60 years earlier, while still a teenager, he travelled to France to work and study. Living in 1920s France, Deng joined the local Communist Party, but began to reach different conclusions when it came to his homeland, and what would make China great. If China were to catch up with the West, Deng supposed, first it needed to learn from the West. And where better to start than the West’s two greatest exports: capitalism and football?

 

So, more than half a century later, Deng is finally in a position to implement what he learnt in Europe all those years ago. He proposes a series of reforms: Decollectivise farming, giving individuals the power to sell their excess produce for profit. Begin to denationalise some industry to increase production. Encourage foreign investment in the country as a way of stimulating trade. And for only the second time ever – and the first since 1958 – enter a Chinese national football team into World Cup qualifying.

 

China don’t qualify for Spain ’82, losing 2-1 to New Zealand in a playoff in Singapore after the two countries finish level on points and goal difference in their group. But Deng’s great ‘opening up’ of China produces more immediate, economic successes. Within a few years, China no longer needs to import food to feed its population.As wealth increases throughout the eighties, more and more people move to the cities. Beijing grows into an unwieldy metropolis. Televisions become commonplace in households and with it a new generation of Chinese grow-up watching football. Many support Liverpool, a team with appeal beyond their success – like China, they also play in red.Their new fans cheer enthusiastically – with a new found confidence, even – for their adopted team.

 

China survived its century of humiliation at the hands of the colonial powers. It survived Mao too. Now with an economy growing at an unprecedented rate, dragging millions out of poverty, people across the country are daring to dream of a future where China takes its place alongside the world’s great powers, both on and off the football pitch.

 

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