Deng Xiaoping

When Deng Xiaoping died in 1997, Time magazine issued a special report with Deng on its cover, calling him “The Last Emperor.” The term was especially apt because, like an emperor, Deng ruled with absolute power in his last decades and his word alone was sufficient to determine policy in the People’s Republic of China. For the last twenty years of his life, he in fact held no official title, such as president (a post occupied by Yang Shangkun) or premier (the position held by Li Peng).

    Born in 1904 in Sichuan Province, Deng was a veteran of the famed Long March, during which the original founders of the Chinese Communist Party, in order to escape persecution from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist government (1911–49) literally walked some six thousand miles from Nationalist-controlled territory to Shaanxi Province in remote northwestern China. As a result, Deng had impeccable credentials as a Communist and rose quickly through the party ranks after the founding of the PRC in 1949.

      During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Deng fell out of favor with Chairman Mao Zedong, China’s paramount leader at that time. In 1963, Deng was one of the party members who had urged economic liberalization in China under the new chairman, Liu Shaoqi, while Mao went into temporary retirement. With more free enterprise allowed and less state control of the economy, China’s people soon began to enjoy a higher standard of living. However, Mao was furious, as he felt these capitalistic policies contradicted the essence of communism. Mao also wanted to return to power, no matter the consequences, and launched the Cultural Revolution to do so. Chairman Liu and his wife were both imprisoned. Deng was sent into “internal exile,” which generally meant some kind of work camp in the countryside. Deng’s son was paralyzed for life after jumping from a second-story window in an attempt to escape a band of Red Guards teenagers and other youths loyal only to Mao whom he feared would beat him to death.


    Deng could not advocate his economic policies again until after Mao’s death in 1976. By 1979, Deng had consolidated his base within the Communist Party and become vice premier. He traveled to the United States (previously considered an enemy of China) and reestablished diplomatic ties with then president Jimmy Carter. And perhaps most memorably of all, he initiated a series of economic reforms known as the Open Door Policy, which he justified in China as “building socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Under this policy, the authoritarian Communist Party maintained political control while the country’s economy was allowed to operate under a dual system: a planned economy in some sectors and a capitalistic, market-driven private economy in others.

    As a result, China began its emergence on the world economic scene with a complex mix of state-owned enterprises, shareholding, public ownership, foreign direct investment, joint ventures with foreign companies and countries, and collective ownership. Stocks and bond markets have sprung up throughout major Chinese cities and more than a million private enterprises have been incorporated. It was Deng who coined the phrase “To get rich is glorious.” And it was also Deng, responding to critics within the party who worried that foreign influences would corrupt Chinese society, who replied, “When you open a window, some flies are bound to come inside.” In other words, China needed fresh air and a few flies could be dealt with.

   Unfortunately for the party, some of those “flies” turned out to be a yearning for greater political freedom and democracy. In April 1989, students began to assemble at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square calling for more transparency in government, an end to corruption, and more rights for Chinese citizens. By June, more than 1 million Chinese citizens were believed to be camped out
on Tiananmen Square demanding political reform. On June 4, the People’s Liberation Army was called in to clear the demonstrators and to restore order to the capital. Although Premier Li Peng gave the order for the army to use force, it is widely believed in both China and abroad that Deng Xiaoping gave his approval for this action or Li would never have been able to do it. The resulting tragedy was dubbed the Tiananmen Square Massacre by the Western media and is known in China as the June Fourth Incident, or simply Six Four (pinyin: liu si). Unknown hundreds, even thousands, of Chinese civilians as well as many soldiers—died in the ensuing chaos.

    Because of the bloodshed on June 4, 1989, and Deng’s steadfast refusal to open up political reform in China, his legacy remains mixed. Without his foresight, brilliance, and political savvy, China might never have opened up to the world and would certainly not be enjoying its current prosperity. His first two political successors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, were considered to be his handpicked protégés. However, Deng’s decision to approve the use of force to stop the political demonstrations at Tiananmen Square and the subsequent bloodshed remain a stain on his record that will not soon be erased.