The Four Cardinal Principles (Chinese: 四項基本原則, pinyin: sì xiàng jīběn yuánzé) were stated by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 and are the four issues for which debate was not allowed within the People's Republic of China. These are: Pinyin (拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin. ... Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping   listen[?] (Simplified Chinese: 邓小平; Traditional Chinese: 鄧小平; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904—February 19, 1997) was a revolutionary elder in the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served as the de facto ruler of the Peoples Republic of China from the late... This page refers to the year 1979. ...

1. the principle of upholding the socialist path
2. the principle of upholding the people's democratic dictatorship
3. the principle of upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and
4. the principle of upholding Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong thought

The four cardinal principles actually marked a relaxation of control over ideology. In stating the four cardinal principles, the implication was that these four topics could not be questioned, but political ideas other than those in the list could be debated. Peoples democratic dictatorship is a phrase incorporated into the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China by Mao Zedong. ... Chinese Communist Party flag The Chinese Communist Party (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; pinyin: ) is the ruling party of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Maoism or Mao Tse-tung Thought (Chinese: 毛泽东思想, pinyin: Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng), is a variant of Marxism-Leninism derived from the teachings of Mao Zedong (1893–1976). ...

Moreover, while the principles themselves are not subject to debate, the interpretation of those principles are. There has for example, been extensive debate over the meaning of socialism. The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ...