HONG KONG/BEIJING/TOKYO -- During his history-making trip to Japan in October 1978, Deng Xiaoping marveled at the state-of-the art Nippon Steel factory on the outskirts of Tokyo. The plant was a gleaming symbol of Japan's postwar rise, and Deng knew that China needed one like it.
"Would you be able to build something similar to this for us?" Deng, then China's vice-premier, asked his hosts.
