Deng Xiaoping

Lore & Background

Born into a landowning peasant family in Sichuan, Deng was introduced to Marxism–Leninism while studying and working in France during the 1920s as part of the Work–Study Movement. He then studied in Moscow and, after returning to China, joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1924. During the Chinese Civil War, he worked in the Jiangxi Soviet and maintained close ties with Mao. Deng later served as a political commissar in the Chinese Red Army during the Long March and Second Sino-Japanese War, helping secure CCP victory in 1949 and taking part in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) capture of Nanjing. Following Mao's founding of the PRC, Deng rose to prominence as the vice premier of China and CCP secretary-general, overseeing economic reconstruction and playing a leading role in the Anti-Rightist Campaign. In the mid-1960s, economic policy initiatives marked the peak of Deng's Mao-era influence. However, during the Cultural Revolution, he was denounced as the party's "number two capitalist roader" after Liu Shaoqi and was twice purged by Mao, spending four years working in a tractor factory before returning to politics. After Mao's death in 1976, Deng outmaneuvered political rivals and became China's paramount leader by 1978. Upon coming to power, Deng began a massive overhaul of China's infrastructure and political system. Due to institutional disorder and turmoil from the Mao era, he and allies launched the Boluan Fanzheng program which sought to restore order by rehabilitating those persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. His reform and opening up policies introduced market incentives, established special economic zones, encouraged foreign investment, and accelerated China's integration into the global economy. Deng also pursued major state reforms, including constitutional term limits (enshrined in the 1982 Constitution of China), the one-child policy to address population growth, a nine-year compulsory education system, and promotion of technology through the 863 Program. These changes shifted China away from a command economy and Maoist orthodoxy, laying the foundation for decades of rapid economic growth. Furthermore, as the overseer of Beijing's foreign policy, Deng negotiated the handover of Hong Kong and handover of Macau and formulated the guiding principle of "one country, two systems". Deng received worldwide acclaim and was named Time P

Reader's Guide

Deng Xiaoping's ancestry can be traced back to Jiaying County (now Meixian), Guangdong, a prominent ancestral area for the Hakka people, and had settled in Sichuan for several generations. His daughter Deng Rong wrote that his ancestry was probably, but not definitely, Hakka. Deng was born in Guang'an District, Guang'an on 22 August 1904 in Sichuan province. His father, Deng Wenming, was a mid-level landowner who had studied at the University of Law and Political Science in Chengdu. His mother, surnamed Dan, died early in Deng's life. At age five, Deng was sent to a traditional Chinese-style private primary school, followed by a more modern primary school at age seven. Deng's first wife, a schoolmate from Moscow, died aged 24 a few days after giving birth to their first child, a baby girl who also died. His second wife, Jin Weiying, left him after Deng came under political attack in 1933. His third wife, Zhuo Lin, married Deng in 1939 in front of Mao's cave dwelling in Yan'an. They had five children: three daughters (Deng Lin, Deng Nan, and Deng Rong) and two sons (Deng Pufang and Deng Zhifang). Deng quit smoking when he was 86. Deng's given name was Xiansheng (先圣). When he first attended school, his tutor objected, instead calling him Xixian (希贤). In the summer of 1919, Deng graduated from the Chongqing School and traveled to France with 80 schoolmates to participate in the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement. Deng was the youngest of all the Chinese students in the group, having just turned 15. On 19 October 1920, the André Lebon sailed into Marseille with 210 Chinese students aboard, including Deng. He briefly attended middle schools in Bayeux and Châtillon, but spent most of his time working, including at a Renault factory and as a fitter at the Le Creusot Iron and Steel Plant in La Garenne-Colombes. In La Garenne-Colombes he met future CCP leaders Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi, Nie Rongzhen, Li Fuchun, Li Lisan, and Li Weihan. In June 1923 he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe. In the second half of 1924, he joined the Chinese Communist Party and became a leading member of the Youth League in Europe. In 1926 Deng traveled to the Soviet Union and studied at Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, where one of his classmates was Chiang Ching-kuo. In late 1927, Deng left Moscow to return to the Republic of China, where he joined the army of Feng Yuxiang. He

Did You Know?

• Deng Xiaoping joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1924 while in France, not after studying in Moscow.
• Deng was not the youngest of all Chinese students in the Work-Study Movement; the source says he was the youngest in his group of 80 schoolmates.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice." — Deng Xiaoping "The United States brags about its political system, but the [American] President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves." — Deng Xiaoping "A basic contradiction between socialism and the market economy does not exist." — Deng Xiaoping "Variant: There are no fundamental contradictions between a socialist system and a market economy." — Deng Xiaoping