THE LIFE OF DENG XIAOPING
1904 - 1997


CHINESE FLAG

  1. Born Deng Xixian (or also Deng Ziansheng) in Paifang, Sichuan Province (south east China), traditionally known for its political rebelliousness.

    Deng Xiaoping
    Deng Xiaoping

  2. Deng joined a work study programme and went to study in France. During his time there he absorbed Marxism and joined the European branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1924.
    Through the communist party Deng experienced the Russian Communist Underground in practice as he lived in Moscow for eleven months in 1926.

  3. Deng returned to China to become involved in Chinese Communism. He was appointed Chief Secretary to the party Central Committee and was involved in secret party work, particularly based in Shanghai (east China). He joined a guerilla army who's assignment was to create a Soviet government in Guangxi (south east China). This was a failure and caused Deng to join Mao Zedong in Jiangxi province, fighting against the Kuomintang (KMT).

    Mao Zedong Photo
    Mao Zedong

  4. Deng married Zhang Quanyuan, who later died.

  5. His second marriage was to Jin-Weiying which, however, soon dissolved.

  6. Deng was the victim of three purges in his career . The first of these occurred in 1933 when he was criticised for following the "defeatist" leader Luo Ming and disagreeing with party line, leading to a short imprisonment. However, during the Long March which followed he built up extensive political contacts, contributing to his appointment as a member of the party's Central Committee in 1945.

  7. By his third marriage to Pu Zhualin he had five children. One son went on to become a physicist, the other was crippled in the Cultural revolution and became a spokesman for charities and the disabled. Of his three daughters, one became an artist, another secretary and biographer and the third a Vice Minister and Party Central Committee member.

  8. The Yunan stronghold grew in stability and provided a suitable base from which to renew attack on the KMT. Deng gained a considerable reputation in the following campaigns banishing the KMT from China.

  9. The Chinese people's republic was established in October 1949. In the following seventeen years Deng Gained the following posts; Political Commissar, South West military command.
    Vice-Premier Minister
    Minister of Finance
    Member of Politburo
    Party General Secretary
    Acting Prime Minister
    He was also heavily involved in Sino-Soviet affairs.

  10. Deng became disillusioned with Mao's economic policies and indicated publicly his sympathy for Liu Shaoqui's alternative ideas.

  11. In the second purge of his career both Deng and Liu were removed from all their official positions in the CCP and branded as the "number 1" and "number 2" "Capitalist Roaders". Liu was thrown into prison, where he later died. Deng however, pulled in favours from several of his influential friends and was left a free man. He spent the next seven years doing manual labour in the Jiangxi province.

  12. Deng was brought back into the party to help repair the damage done to China's economy by his army contacts. He rose to Vice Premier and Member of the Central Committee as well as several other posts.

  13. Opposition to the Cultural Revolution stirred up civil unrest.

    Premier Zhou Enlais, who had pushed for Deng's return to the party in 1973 fell ill with cancer , dying in September 1975.

  14. At the funeral of Zhou Enlais, sponsored by Deng, further unrest against the Cultural Revolution was shown. Mao Zedong interpreted this as Deng's doing, and so removed him from office for the third time.

  15. Deng negotiated the return of Hong Kong from the British, starting the fulfilment of his dearest ambition to recover China's "lost territories".

  16. The issue of high inflation changed Chinese attitudes and broke of party unity. Unrest against the dictatorial government emerged.

  17. During this time Deng gradually gave up all his formal posts, resigning the last - Chairman of Central Military Commission aged 85.

    Tiananmen Square
    Tiananmen Square

    Student pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, coinciding with Mikhail Gorbachev's important visit to China, caused Deng to unleash the heavy arm of the military on the demonstrators, creating a bloody tragedy seen by the whole world. Deng's speech to the people and armed forces on the 9th June was made amid all this unrest.

  18. Deng continued to appear in public until 1994 and, although having retired from public office, was arguably the most important private citizen in the world. His final wish, to live to visit a Chinese-run Hong Kong, was denied him by his death on 19th February 1997.


Other sites linked to this topic are;

China Facts http://www.cliffie.nosc.mil/~NATLAS/wfb/C/China.html

Deng Xiaoping Forum http://www.chinapro.com/deng.life.html



Designed by Sarah Heritage.
I am a first year Geography student at the University of Bristol. This page was designed as part of my subsidiary course - Computer Methods. Please e-mail me on sh6265@bristol.ac.uk with any comments or corrections.