For the benefit of our little friend here, Comrade Deng Xiao Ping pay a visit to Singapore in 1978 (a yr before my birth) to learn about the Singapore Miracle Story of Development.
Upon his return, he initiated reforms to liberalise China. A typical example is, getting MNCs to set up factories in China. (Same way as how Late Dr Goh Keng Swee got Texas Instruments, General Electric and Matsushita to set up their factories in the 1960s). By the way, Late Dr Goh was also appointed economic advisor to the state council of China in 1985.
This info can be easily retrieved from the NLB archives, LKY memoirs and Google.