 Deng
Xiao Ping was a leader in the Communist Party of China (CCP). Deng never held
office as the head of state or the head of government, but served as the de
facto leader of the People's Republic of China from the late 1970s to the early
1990s. He pioneered "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and Chinese
economic reform, also known as the "socialist market economy".
Deng formed the core of the "second generation" CCP leadership. Under his
tutelage, China developed one of the fastest growing economies in the world
while keeping the Communist Party of China in tight overall control.
Background
Deng, a Hakka, was born Deng Xixian on August 22, 1904 in Paifang village in
Xiexing township, Guang'an County, Sichuan Province. He was educated in France,
as were many notable Asian revolutionaries (such as Ho Chi Minh and Zhou En
Lai), where he discovered Marxism-Leninism.
Deng married 3 times. His first wife, Zhang Xi Yuan, one of his schoolmates from
Moscow, died when she was 24, a few days after giving birth to Deng's first
child, a baby girl, who also died. His second wife, Jin Wei Ying, left him after
he came under political attack in 1933. His third wife, Zhuo Lin, was the
daughter of an industrialist in Yunnan Province. She became a member of the
Communist Party in 1938, and a year later married Deng in front of Mao's cave
dwelling in Yan'an. They had five children: three daughters (Deng Lin, Deng Nan,
Deng Rong) and two sons (Deng Pu Fang, Deng Zhi Fang).
Early Career
In the summer of 1920, Deng Xiao Ping graduated from the Chongqing Preparatory
School. He and 80 schoolmates, participating in a work-study program for Chinese
students, boarded a ship for France (traveling steerage) and in October arrived
in Marseilles. Deng, the youngest of all the Chinese students, had just turned
16. He spent most of his time in France working, first at the Le Creusot Iron
and Steel plant in central France, then later as a fitter in the Renault factory
in the Paris suburb of Billancourt, as a fireman on a locomotive and as a
kitchen helper in restaurants. He barely earned enough to survive. He also
briefly attended middle schools in Bayeux and Chatillon.
In France, under the influence of his seniors (Zhao Shi Yan, Zhou En Lai and
others), Deng began to study Marxism and do political propaganda work. In 1922
he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe. In the second half of
1924 he joined the Chinese Communist Party and became one of the leading members
of the General Branch of the Youth League in Europe. During 1926 Deng studied at
Moscow in the then-USSR. He returned to China in early 1927.
In 1929 Deng led the Baise Uprising in Guangxi province against the KMT
government. The uprising soon failed and Deng went to the Central Soviet Area in
Jiangxi province.
He was a veteran of the Long March, during which Deng served as General
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. While acting as
political commissar for Liu Bo Cheng, he organized several important military
campaigns during the war with Japan and during the Civil War against the
Kuomintang. In late November 1949, Deng led the final assault on KMT forces
under the direct command of Chiang Kai-shek in his native Sichuan. The city of
Chongqing fell to the PLA on December 1 and Deng was immediately appointed mayor
and political commissar. (Chiang Kai-shek, who had moved his headquarters to
Chongqing in mid-November fled to the provincial capital of Chengdu. This last
mainland Chinese city to be held by the KMT fell December 10 and Chiang fled to
Taiwan on the same day.) When the PRC was founded in 1949 Deng was sent to
oversee issues in the Southwestern Region, and acted as its First Secretary. He
was instrumental in holding talks with Tibetan leaders, ensuring some support
for China's eventual annexation of Tibet.
Ascension and Purges
As a supporter of Mao Ze Dong, Deng was named by Mao to several important posts
in the new government, including General Secretary of the Communist Party, soon
after the formation of the People's Republic of China.
After officially supporting Mao Ze Dong in his Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957,
Deng became General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and ran the
country's daily affairs with then President Liu Shao Qi. Amid growing
disenchantment with Mao's Great Leap Forward, Deng and Liu gained influence
within the CCP. They embarked on economic reforms that bolstered their prestige
among the party apparatus and the national populace. Deng and Liu advocated more
pragmatic policies, as opposed to Mao's radicalist ideas.
Mao grew apprehensive that the prestige Deng and Liu gained from these efforts
could lead to himself being reduced to a mere figurehead. For this amongst other
reasons, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, during which Deng fell
out of favor and was forced to retire from all his offices. He was sent to the
Xinjian County Tractor Factory in rural Jiangxi province to work as a regular
worker. While there Deng spent his spare time writing. He was purged nationally,
but to a lesser scale than Liu Shao Qi.
When Premier Zhou En Lai fell ill from cancer, Deng became Zhou's choice for a
successor, and Zhou was able to convince Mao to bring Deng Xiao Ping back into
politics in 1974 as First Deputy Premier, in practice running daily affairs.
However, the Cultural Revolution was not yet over, and a radicalist political
group known as the Gang of Four competed for power within the Communist Party.
The Gang saw Deng as their greatest challenge to success. After Zhou's death in
January 1976, Deng lost firm support in the party, and after delivering Zhou's
official eulogy at the state funeral, was purged once again at the instigation
of the Gang of Four, though the decision of the Politburo to relieve him of all
his posts was unanimous.
Reemergence of Deng
Deng gradually emerged as the de-facto leader of China in the few years
following Mao's death in 1976, although the only official position he ever held
was president of the chess association. By carefully mobilizing his supporters
within the Chinese Communist Party, Deng was able to outmaneuver Mao's anointed
successor Hua Guo Feng, who had previously pardoned him, and then oust Hua from
his top leadership positions by 1980-1981.
In contrast to previous leadership changes, Deng allowed Hua to retain
membership in the Central Committee until November 2002, to quietly retire, and
helped to set a precedent that losing a high-level leadership struggle would not
result in physical harm.
Deng then repudiated the Cultural Revolution and launched the "Beijing Spring",
which allowed open criticism of the excesses and suffering that had occurred
during the period. Meanwhile, he was the impetus for the abolishment of the
class background system. Under this system, the CCP put up employment barriers
to Chinese deemed to be associated with the former landlord class, its removal
therefore effectively allowed Chinese capitalists to join the Communist Party.
Deng gradually outmaneuvered his political opponents. By encouraging public
criticism of the Cultural Revolution, he weakened the position of those who owed
their political positions to that event, while strengthening the position of
those like himself who had been purged during that time. Deng also received a
great deal of popular support.
As Deng gradually consolidated control over the CCP, Hua was replaced by Zhao Zi
Yang as premier in 1980, and by Hu Yao Bang as party chief in 1981. Deng
remained the most influential CCP cadre, although after 1987 his only official
posts were as chairman of the state and Communist Party Central Military
Commissions.
Originally, the president was conceived of as a figurehead head of state, with
actual state power resting in the hands of the premier and the party chief, both
offices being conceived of as held by separate people in order to prevent a cult
of personality from forming (as it did in the case of Mao); the party would
develop policy, whereas the state would execute it.
Opening Up
Under Deng's direction, relations with the West improved markedly. Deng traveled
abroad and had a series of amicable meetings with western leaders, traveling to
the United States in 1979 to meet President Carter at the White House shortly
after the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with the Republic of China and
established them with the PRC. Sino-Japanese relations also improved
significantly. Deng used Japan as an example of a rapidly progressing economic
power that sets a good example for China's future economic directions.
Another achievement was the agreement signed by Britain and China on December
19, 1984 (Sino-British Joint Declaration) under which Hong Kong was to be handed
over to the PRC in 1997. With the end of the 99-year lease on the New
Territories expiring, Deng agreed that the PRC would not interfere with Hong
Kong's capitalist system for 50 years. A similar agreement was signed with
Portugal for the return of colony Macau. Dubbed "one country-two systems", this
approach has been touted by the PRC as a potential framework within which Taiwan
could be reunited with the Mainland in more recent years.
Deng, however, did little to improve relations with the Soviet Union, continuing
to adhere to the Maoist line of the Sino-Soviet Split era that the Soviet Union
was a superpower equally as "hegemonist" as the United States, but even more
threatening to China because of its geographical proximity.
"Socialism with Chinese Characteristics"
The goals of Deng's reforms were summed up by the Four Modernizations, those of
agriculture, industry, science and technology and the military. The strategy for
achieving these aims of becoming a modern, industrial nation was the socialist
market economy.
Deng argued that China was in the primary stage of socialism and that the duty
of the party was to perfect "socialism with Chinese characteristics." This
interpretation of Chinese Marxism reduced the role of ideology in economic
decision-making and deciding policies of proven effectiveness. Downgrading
communitarian values but not necessarily Marxism-Leninism, Deng emphasized that
socialism does not mean shared poverty. His theoretical justification for
allowing market forces was given as such:
"Planning and market forces are not the essential difference between
socialism and capitalism. A planned economy is not the definition of
socialism, because there is planning under capitalism; the market economy
happens under socialism, too. Planning and market forces are both ways of
controlling economic activity."
Unlike Hua Guo Feng, Deng believed that no policy should be rejected out of
hand simply for not having been associated with Mao, and unlike more
conservative leaders such as Chen Yun, Deng did not object to policies on the
grounds that they were similar to ones which were found in capitalist nations.
Although Deng provided the theoretical background and the political support to
allow economic reform to occur, few of the economic reforms that Deng introduced
were originated by Deng himself. Typically a reform would be introduced by local
leaders, often in violation of central government directives. If successful and
promising, these reforms would be adopted by larger and larger areas and
ultimately introduced nationally. Many other reforms were influenced by the
experiences of the East Asian Tigers.
This is in sharp contrast to the pattern in the perestroika undertaken by
Mikhail Gorbachev in which most of the major reforms were originated by
Gorbachev himself. The bottom-up approach of the Deng reforms, in contrast to
the top-down approach of perestroika, was likely a key factor in the success of
the former.
Deng's reforms actually included the introduction of planned, centralized
management of the macro-economy by technically proficient bureaucrats,
abandoning Mao's mass campaign style of economic construction. However, unlike
the Soviet model, management was indirect through market mechanisms.
Deng sustained Mao's legacy to the extent that he stressed the primacy of
agricultural output and encouraged a significant decentralization of decision
making in the rural economy teams and individual peasant households. At the
local level, material incentives, rather than political appeals, were to be used
to motivate the labor force, including allowing peasants to earn extra income by
selling the produce of their private plots at free market.
In the main move toward market allocation, local municipalities and provinces
were allowed to invest in industries that they considered most profitable, which
encouraged investment in light manufacturing. Thus, Deng's reforms shifted
China's development strategy to an emphasis on light industry and export-led
growth.
Light industrial output was vital for a developing country coming from a low
capital base. With the short gestation period, low capital requirements, and
high foreign-exchange export earnings, revenues generated by light manufacturing
were able to be reinvested in more technologically-advanced production and
further capital expenditures and investments.
However, in sharp contrast to the similar but much less successful reforms in
Yugoslavia and Hungary, these investments were not government mandated. The
capital invested in heavy industry largely came from the banking system, and
most of that capital came from consumer deposits. One of the first items of the
Deng reforms was to prevent reallocation of profits except through taxation or
through the banking system; hence, the reallocation in state-owned industries
was somewhat indirect, thus making them more or less independent from government
interference. In short, Deng's reforms sparked an industrial revolution in
China.
These reforms were a reversal of the Maoist policy of economic self-reliance.
China decided to accelerate the modernization process by stepping up the volume
of foreign trade, especially the purchase of machinery from Japan and the West.
By participating in such export-led growth, China was able to step up the Four
Modernizations by attaining certain foreign funds, market, advanced technologies
and management experiences, thus accelerating its economic development.
Deng attracted foreign companies to a series of Special Economic Zones, where
foreign investment and market liberalization were encouraged.
The reforms centered on improving labor productivity as well. New material
incentives and bonus systems were introduced. Rural markets selling peasants'
homegrown products and the surplus products of communes were revived. Not only
did rural markets increase agricultural output, they stimulated industrial
development as well. With peasants able to sell surplus agricultural yields on
the open market, domestic consumption stimulated industrialization as well and
also created political support for more difficult economic reforms.
There are some parallels between Deng's market socialism especially in the early
stages, and Lenin's New Economic Policy as well as those of Bukharin's economic
policies, in that both foresaw a role for private entrepreneurs and markets
based on trade and pricing rather than central planning.
An interesting anecdote on this note is the first meeting between Deng and
Armand Hammer. Deng pressed the industrialist and former investor in Lenin's
Soviet Union for as much information on the NEP as possible.
Crackdown of the Tiananmen Square Protests
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 started from the middle of April 1989,
triggered by the death of Hu Yao Bang, the former party general secretary. Hu
was widely seen as a liberal-minded person and was forced to resign from his
position by Deng Xiao Ping, an unfair treatment in many people's view,
especially among intellectuals.
Although the government declared martial law on May 20, the demonstrations
continued. After deliberating among Communist party leaders, the use of military
force to resolve the crisis was ordered, and Zhao Zi Yang was ousted from
political leadership. Soldiers and tanks from the 27th and 38th Armies of the
People's Liberation Army were sent to take control of the city. These forces
were confronted by Chinese students in the streets of Beijing and the ensuing
violence resulted in both civilian and army deaths. The Chinese government
refused to acknowledge that any deaths had occurred as a result of the violence.
Estimates of civilian deaths which resulted vary: 400-800 (New York Times),
1,000 (NSA), and 2,600 (Chinese Red Cross). Student protesters maintained that
over 7,000 were killed. Following the violence, the government conducted
widespread arrests to suppress the remaining supporters of the movement, limited
access for the foreign press and controlled coverage of the events in the
mainland Chinese press. The violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protest
caused widespread international condemnation of the PRC government. Deng Xiao
Ping, along with other hardliners, especially Li Peng, were generally blamed for
the events. Critics accused Deng of suppressing any signs of political freedom
that would undermine the direction of his economic reforms. Deng's involvement
in the events proved that he still possessed certain dictatorial powers. Deng
and subsequent governments continue to justify crackdown on protests as a
measure to enforce social stability for effective economic progress.
After Resignation and The 1992 Southern Tour
Officially, Deng decided to retire from top positions when he stepped down as
Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 1989, and retired from the
political scene in 1992. China, however, was still in the era of Deng Xiaoping.
He continued to be widely regarded as the "paramount leader" of the country,
believed to have backroom control. Deng was recognized officially as "The
architect of China's economic reforms and China's socialist modernization". To
the Communist Party, he was believed to have set a good example for communist
cadres who refused to retire at old age. He broke earlier conventions of holding
offices for life. He was often referred to as simply Comrade Xiaoping, with no
title attached.
In the spring of 1992, Deng made his famous southern tour of China, visiting
Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and spending the New Years in Shanghai. On his tour,
Deng made various speeches and generated large local support for his reformist
platform. He stressed the importance of economic construction in China, and
criticized those who were against further economic and openness reforms. He
stated that the "leftist" elements of Chinese society were much more dangerous
than "rightist" ones. Because of the 1989 Tiananmen Incident, Deng's power had
been significantly weakened and there was a growing formalist faction opposed to
Deng's reforms within the Communist Party. Deng maintained that the economic
reforms were an unchangeable policy in China, and essential to China's further
development. His southern tour was initially ignored by the Beijing and national
media, which were then under the control of Deng's political rivals. Challenging
their media control, Deng penned several articles supporting reforms under the
byname "Huang Fu Ping" in Shanghai's Jiefang Ribao newspaper, which quickly
gained support amongst local officials and populace. Amidst the later political
storm, the national media finally reported Deng's southern tour several months
after the fact. On the backstage, Deng's southern tour solidified his reformist
allies' climb to the apex of national power, and permanently changed China's
direction toward economic development. The results of the southern tour proved
that Deng was still the most powerful man in China. Shanghai was subsequently
opened up to reform that same year and would lead China's economic development
to the present day.
Death and Reaction
Deng Xiao Ping died on February 19, 1997, at age 92 from a lung infection and
Parkinson's disease, but his influence continued. Even though Jiang Ze Min was
in firm control, government policies still followed Deng's ideas, thoughts,
methods, and direction. The Central Government called Deng the "Great Marxist,
Great Proletarian Revolutionary, statesman, militarist, diplomat; one of the
main leaders of the Communist Party of China, the People's Liberation Army of
China, and the People's Republic of China; The great architect of China's
socialist opening-up and modernized construction; the founder of Deng Xiao Ping
theory".
The death of Deng was followed by the greatest display of grief for any Chinese
leader since Mao Ze Dong himself. At 10 AM on the morning of February 24, from
all walks of life in the entire nation, people were asked to pause in silence in
unison for three minutes. The nation's flags flew at half-staff for over a week.
During the nationally televised funeral of Deng that was broadcast on all cable
channels, Jiang Ze Min's emotional eulogy to the late reformist leader declared,
"The Chinese people love Comrade Deng Xiao Ping, thank Comrade Deng Xiao Ping,
mourn for Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and cherish the memory of Comrade Deng Xiao
Ping because he devoted his life-long energies to the Chinese people, performed
immortal feats for the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation." Jiang
vowed to continue Deng's policies. After the funeral, Deng was cremated and his
ashes were subsequently scattered at sea, according to his wishes. For around
two weeks, China's media ran news stories and documentaries related to Deng's
life and death, with the regular Continual News program in the evening lasting
almost two hours over the regular broadcast time.
Domestically, however, the reaction to Deng's death was not as emotional as the
Chinese media had portrayed, because many segments of the Chinese population,
notably the modern Maoists and radical reformers, had negative views on Deng. In
the year that followed, songs like "Story of the Spring" by Dong Wen Hua, which
were created in Deng's honour shortly after Deng's Southern Tour in 1992, once
again were widely played.
There was a significant amount of international reaction to Deng's death. UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Deng was to be remembered "in the
international community at large as a primary architect of China's modernization
and dramatic economic development". French President Jacques Chirac said "In the
course of this century, few men have, as much as Deng Xiao Ping, led a vast
human community through such profound and determining changes"; British Prime
Minister John Major commented about Deng's key role in the return of Hong Kong
to Chinese control. The Taiwan presidential office also sent its condolences,
saying it longed for peace, cooperation, and prosperity. The Dalai Lama voiced
regret.
Memorials
When compared to the memorials of other former CCP leaders, those dedicated to
Deng have been relatively low profile, in keeping with Deng's pragmatism.
A bronze statue of Deng was erected on November 14, 2000, at the grand plaza of
Lianhua Mountain Park of Shenzhen. This statue is dedicated to Deng's role as a
great planner and contributor to the development of the Shenzhen Special
Economic Zone, starting in 1984. The statue is 6 meters high, with an additional
3.68 meter base. The statue shows Deng striding forward confidently.
Another bronze statue of Deng was dedicated August 13, 2004 in the city of
Guang'an, Deng's home town, in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The statue
was erected to commemorate Deng's 100th birthday. The statue shows Deng, dressed
casually, sitting on a chair and smiling. The Chinese characters for "Statue of
Deng Xiao Ping” are inscribed on the pedestal. The original calligraphy was
written by Jiang Ze Min, then Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
In Bishkek, capital of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, there is a 6-lane boulevard,
25 meters wide and 3.5 km long, Deng Xiao Ping Prospekt, which was dedicated on
June 18, 1997. A 2 meter high red granite monument stands at the east end of
this route. The epigraph in memory of Deng is written in Chinese, Russian and
Kirghiz.
Trivia
Based on the Chinese government's own admission, Deng Xiao Ping is the senior
Chinese leader who had experienced most numerous assassination attempts.
According to the recent declassified information after Hu Jin Tao came to power,
there were seven attempts on Deng's life from 1960's to 1980's and most of the
cases remain unsolved, and all of them rooted by the Maoists' opposition to
Deng's reform:
- In December 21, 1969, Deng Xiao Ping was exiled to an abandoned infantry
school at a place named Wangcheng Hill in Xinjian County of Jiangxi province
for his house arrest under the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee's
executive order #1. On the morning of December 23, 1969, a band of militia
stormed and machine gunned the compound. However, the militia mistook the
guards' residence for that of Deng and many of them were killed when the
guards returned fire. The incident was later blamed on Lin Biao, but in the
early 1980s, it was decided that Lin Biao was not involved. The case remains
unsolved today.
- On February 21, 1973, an Ilyushin Il-14 was sent from Beijing to Jiangxi
to take Deng Xiao Ping back to Beijing to resume his work, but on the same
day, an urgent order from Beijing instructed Deng to take train instead, with
additional protection of a squad personally led by the chief-of-staff of the
local military district. It was reported that this change of plan was
conducted by Zhou En Lai to protect Deng, and the Ilyushin Il-14 Deng
originally planned to take exploded above Anhui on its way back. This case was
never solved.
- In September 1975, Deng Xiao Ping, Jiang Qing, and Hua Guo Feng went to
Shanxi, and one evening, when Deng was taking his daily walk, a shadow opened
fire on Deng and missed. The guards returned fire but missed their targets,
and the assassin was never caught and the case became a cold case file.
- In April 1976, Deng Xiao Ping was once again removed from his post and was
exiled to a military reception center at Yuquan Mountain in the suburb of
Beijing for yet another house arrest. The same evening Deng had arrived, the
Number 5 building where Deng resided was caught on fire and later
investigation revealed that the fire started on the first floor, the exact
floor where Deng resided, and stopped exactly after every room in the first
floor was burned. The official statement was due to short-ciruit, but it was
obvious that this was an assassination attempt. Deng Xiao Ping was ordered by
his guards assigned by Ye Jian Ying to go somewhere else to study Mao's work
and thus was not in the building when the fire struck, and after the incident,
he was immediately moved back in to the city. The case remains unsolved.
- Following the assassination attempt three months earlier in April, there
was another one. In July 1976, Deng was instructed to go to Chengde, Hebei to
escape the summer heat. Deng refused to go by claiming that he needed to go to
the hospital for his annual physical. When the Japanese car assigned to take
him was returned to ministry of defense, it was discovered that the front axle
was about to break and nobody would survive the consequent crash. The case is
still open today.
- In March 1980, Deng Xiao Ping went to inspect troops in Jinan military
region. As Deng was returning to the conference room from outside, one of the
local guards shouted: 'Down the capitalist Deng Xiao Ping! Guard the Chairman
Mao's revolutionary thought! Revenge for the vice-chairman Jiang Qing!' and
opened fire on Deng at the same time. Thanks to Deng's body guards' quick
reaction, Deng was not harmed and the assassin was quickly subdued. It was
discovered the assassin was an ardent Maoist and it appeared he acted alone.
However, most people believed that somebody else was behind it.
- In February 1988, Deng Xiao Ping, Chen Yun, and Yang Shang Kun went to
Shanghai for the Chinese New Year, and resided in the Western Suburb Hotel.
Four men claimed to be a Maoist Combat Team managed to penetrate the security
and had a gunfight with the guards, resulting the killing of the three of the
four, and the last one arrested. From these Maoists, maps of Deng's residence,
pistols with silencers, explosives, and incendiaries were found. Again, barely
anyone believes the official statement that these Maoists acted alone.
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