Deng Xiaoping

(1904–1997)

   Deng Xiaoping was the paramount leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) throughout the 1980s and a key figure before and after. Arguably he was the person who did most to overturn the policies of the Cultural Revolution and to guide China toward economic modernization and growth. Deng joined the Communist Party in the early 1920s while a student in France, and took this ideological commitment back with him to China. Centrally involved in the revolutionary struggle against the nationalists in China, he held various posts in the Red Army and took part in the Long March in 1934–35. He opposed Mao Zedong at the time of the Cultural Revolution, leading to Mao purging him from the party, but emerged as the key leader after Mao’s death. Deng’s leadership focused on the development of China and was characterized by its pragmatism and emphasis on organizational efficiency. He encouraged elements of capitalism and the replacement of revolutionaries with managers in the party in the drive for economic development, while keeping a tight bureaucratic–authoritarian political control. He was also behind the establishing of closer links with both the United States and Japan.