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Deng Xiaoping

Chinese politician and paramount leader from 1978 to 1989 · China · Politicians · Lived 1904 to 1997 · aged 92

Deng Xiaoping is read about 6,934 times a day, in 109 languages.

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The paramount leader who took a fractured, Maoist China in 1978 and rewired it into a socialist market economy - special zones, foreign capital, constitutional term limits - then crushed the 1989 Tiananmen protests and set the template for the superpower that followed.

PoliticiansPoliticianPoliticsJournalism20th Century

A life in dates

1997Died19 February 19971993“A basic contradiction between socialism and the market economy does not exist.”In their wordsAs quoted in Daily report: People's Republic of China, Editions 240-249 (1993), p. 30

1983Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of ChinaOffice1983-19901981Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist PartyOffice1981-19891978“The key to the four modernizations is the modernization of science and technology.”In their wordsMarch 1978Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the National Conference on Science (March 1978) (excerpts)

“In societies under the rule of exploiting classes, there are various kinds of mental workers.”In their wordsMarch 1978Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the National Conference on Science (March 1978) (excerpts)

Financial Times Person of the YearAwardChairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative ConferenceOffice1978-1983, 19781977“It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.”In their wordsAs quoted in Hung Li China's Political Situation and the Power Struggle in Peking (1977), p. 107; according to Chambers Dictionary of

Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist PartyOffice1977-1987, 19771975Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist PartyOffice1975-19761974“Self-reliance in no way means “self-seclusion” and rejection of foreign aid.”In their wordsSpeech at the Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly (1974) (excerpts)

“We hold that international trade should be based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and the exchange of needed goods.”In their wordsSpeech at the Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly (1974) (excerpts)

1956General Secretary of the Central Committee's SecretariatOffice1956-1966Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist PartyOffice1956-1967, 19561904Born22 August 1904

Also in Deutsch

Photos 11

Deng Xiaoping at age 16, studying in France (1921)Deng Xiaoping at age 16, studying in France (1921)Deng's name is spelled "Teng Hi Hien" on this employment card from the Hutchinson shoe factory in Châlette-sur-Loing, France, where he worked for eight months in 1922, and for another stint in 1923 where he was fired after one month, with the bottom note reading 'refused to work, do not take him back'Deng's name is spelled "Teng Hi Hien" on this employment card from the Hutchinson shoe factory in Châlette-sur-Loing, France, where he worked for eight months in 1922, and for another stint in 1923 where he was fired after one month, with the bottom note reading 'refused to work, do not take him back'Deng Xiaopingin NRA uniform, 1937Deng Xiaopingin NRA uniform, 1937Deng with Liu Bocheng (right)Deng with Liu Bocheng (right)Deng Xiaoping (centre) with U.S. president Gerald Ford (left), 1975Deng Xiaoping (centre) with U.S. president Gerald Ford (left), 1975Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter at the arrival ceremony of Deng's visit to the US (1979)Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter at the arrival ceremony of Deng's visit to the US (1979)

In their own words 10

,
Deng Xiaoping
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10 statements, newest first

  1. A basic contradiction between socialism and the market economy does not exist.

    1993, As quoted in Daily report: People's Republic of China, Editions 240-249 (1993), p. 30, Own words

  2. The key to the four modernizations is the modernization of science and technology.

    Mar 1978, Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the National Conference on Science (March 1978) (excerpts), Own words

  3. Marxism has consistently treated science and technology as part of the productive forces.

    Mar 1978, Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the National Conference on Science (March 1978) (excerpts), Own words

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Awards

Financial Times Person of the Year1978
People's Liberation Army Strategist

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About this person

Born to a landowning family in Sichuan in 1904, Deng Xiaoping absorbed Marxism in France during the 1920s Work-Study Movement, studied in Moscow, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1924. He survived the Long March as a Red Army political commissar, helped deliver the 1949 victory, and rose to vice premier and party secretary-general under Mao - until the Cultural Revolution branded him "number two capitalist roader" and sent him to a tractor factory for four years. After Mao died in 1976, Deng outmaneuvered rivals and by 1978 commanded the country. He launched reform and opening up: market incentives, special economic zones, the one-child policy, nine-year compulsory education, the 863 technology program, and the 1982 Constitution with term limits. The deals for Hong Kong and Macau bore his "one country, two systems" formula. Time named him Person of the Year twice. Then in June 1989 he ordered tanks into Tiananmen Square, ending his political liberalization and staining the record that had already made China a rising power.

Country
China
Category
Politicians
Type
Politician
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1904 to 1997 · aged 92

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