Deng Xiaoping or Teng Hsiao-p'ing, 1904-97, Chinese revolutionary and government leader, b. Sichuan prov. Deng became a member of the Chinese Communist party while studying in France (1920-25). A veteran of the long march, he joined the Party Central Committee in 1945. Called to Beijing as deputy premier (1952), he rose rapidly, joining the Politburo Standing Committee in 1956. A pragmatist, he worked with Liu Shaoqi after the Great Leap Forward to restore the economy. In the Cultural Revolution he was attacked as the "Number Two Capitalist Roader" after Liu. Purged, he was sent to work in a tractor factory (1966). Reinstated by Zhou Enlai as deputy premier (1973), he took over the administration when Zhou fell ill, eagerly implementing Zhou's "Four Modernizations." After Zhou's death in 1976, Deng was again purged.

In 1977 he again became deputy premier, as well as vice chairman of the party, and later (1979) visited the United States to seek closer ties. For most of the 1980s he served as head of the party and government military commissions and the newly created party Central Advisory Commission. Although not holding any of the highest ranking official posts, Deng became the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. In 1981 Deng strengthened his position in China by replacing Hua Guofeng as Communist party chairman with his own protégé, Hu Yaobang. When Hu was forced from power, Zhao Ziyang, another Deng protégé, became party leader, and later when Zhao was ousted, a third Deng associate, Jiang Zemin, replaced Zhao. Deng sought to loosen government control of the economy in order to promote development while insisting on tight party control of the government and politics. He resigned from his last party post in 1989, designating Jiang Zemin his successor, after supporting the use of military force to suppress the Tiananmen Square demonstrations.

or Teng Hsiao-p'ing

(born Aug. 22, 1904, Guang'an, Sichuan province, China—died Feb. 19, 1997, Beijing) Chinese communist leader, China's most important figure from the late 1970s until his death. In the 1950s he became a vice-premier of the People's Republic of China and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He fell from favour during the Cultural Revolution but was rehabilitated in 1973 under the sponsorship of Zhou Enlai. Though seen as a likely successor to Zhou as premier, Deng was again ousted, this time by the Gang of Four, when Zhou died in 1976. However, Mao Zedong died later that year, and in the ensuing political struggle the Gang of Four was arrested; Deng was rehabilitated for a second time. His protégés Zhao Ziyang and Hu Yaobang became premier and CCP general secretary, respectively. Both embraced Deng's wide-reaching reform program, which introduced free-enterprise elements into the economy. Hu died in April 1989, and Zhao was dismissed from the government after the Tiananmen Square incident in June. Deng gradually relinquished his official posts but continued to guide China until his death.

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