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Farewell To A Leader

Although he was less than five feet tall, China's Deng Xiaoping (Dung Shah-oh-ping) will be remembered as one of the century's biggest leaders. Deng died last week at the age of 92. For more than 15 years, he had ruled the world's most populous nation. (China has 1.2 billion people on 3.7 million square miles of land.) Deng opened China to trade and brought the country into the modern world.

Even though he had held no formal office in years, Deng was China's highest authority--the country's "Paramount Leader." In the past three years, as his health weakened, he remained out of public view. But Deng's importance did not fade. In many ways, his life story is the same as the story of modern China. It is a story of great leaps forward and steps backward, of triumph and humiliation.

"Just Like One Of Us"
Born on August 22, 1904, Deng grew up in a well-to-do household in the countryside. His family favored a modern China. They were opposed to the Manchu emperors, who ruled the country.

At 16, Deng won a scholarship to study in France. He spent the next five years working at humble jobs and learning about Western culture. While he studied French, Deng worked as a waiter, a train conductor and in a shoe factory. "We felt that China was weak, and we wanted her to be strong," he later said. "So we went to the West to learn."

In 1926, Deng traveled to Russia to continue his studies. When he returned to China six months later, the country was in upheaval. Deng took part in the struggles and rebellions, and he met Mao Zedong (Maow Zay-dung), who was to become the founder of the People's Republic of China. Mao and Deng quickly hit it off and began a lifelong friendship.

In 1956, Deng was named one of Mao's 12 Deputy Premiers. It was a very important job. But 10 years later, Deng fell out of favor. He was put on public trial. For hours on end, Deng's accusers called him a traitor and shouted, "Cook the dog's head in boiling oil!" Deng responded by simply removing his hearing aid.

Deng was paraded through the streets of Beijing, China's capital, in a dunce cap and placed under house arrest. Deng and his wife were sent to the countryside and forced to work in a tractor-repair factory. "He never seemed like a great state leader," another worker recalled. "He seemed just like one of us."

In 1973, Deng made a comeback. Mao summoned Deng back to Beijing to revive China's sagging economy. He resumed his job as Deputy Premier. Three years later, Deng faced enemies yet again and was placed under house arrest. He fought back. By 1978, two years after Mao's death, the enemies of Deng were in jail, and he was in control of China.

As Paramount Leader, Deng pushed his plans to modernize China into high gear. He improved relations with the U.S. (Under Mao, they had been strained and tense.)

Most important, Deng promoted economic reforms. Unlike previous communist leaders, he invited foreign companies into China. Pizza Hut, Dunkin' Donuts and warehouse stores selling Pepsi, Doritos and Fruit Roll-Ups can now be found in Beijing. Deng's reforms quadrupled the size of the Chinese economy.

While Mao believed in big, government-owned farms, Deng allowed millions of peasants to farm small plots of land, sell their goods and keep the profits. Communism does not generally allow this kind of private business, but Deng wanted to improve Chinese life and the economy. To reach a goal, he didn't mind bending the rules. "It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white," he loved to say, "as long as it catches mice."

A Critical Time For China
Deng encouraged economic freedom, but he stifled personal and political freedom. He put a cruel and bloody halt to pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Robin Munro is the Hong Kong director of Human Rights Watch Asia, a group that keeps track of rights abuses in China. Munro believes Deng and Jiang Zemin (Jee-ahng Dzuh-meen), Deng's handpicked successor, have just about wiped out all political opposition. There has been "uncompromising crushing of all dissent," he says.

Jiang, 70, holds the office of State President and is the head of both the Communist Party and the army. Now that Deng is gone, Jiang is expected to come out of the shadows and into the limelight. "Even though he held the top posts, Jiang had acted like an American Vice President," says a Western diplomat in China.

The death of Deng Xiaoping comes at a critical time for China. On July 1, Hong Kong will become part of China, ending 150 years of British control. Deng wrote, "I am willing to live until 1997. Then I will see China assume its sovereignty over Hong Kong with my own eyes." It's a sight Deng will not see after all. Now the eyes of the world are focused on China, its current leader and its future.

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Major Events In Modern China

1911-1912 After centuries of being ruled by emperors, most Chinese provinces declare their independence. Sun Yat-sen, known as the father of modern China, becomes temporary President of the new Chinese Republic.
1921 Chinese Communist Party is founded in Shanghai.
1927 Civil war breaks out between Communists and Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek. The war will go on more than 20 years, interrupted by other conflicts.
1949 Communists finally win the civil war. Powerful communist leader Mao Zedong founds the People's Republic of China. The defeated Nationalists flee to Taiwan. In an effort to increase China's wealth, Mao forces millions to work at government farms and factories. Those who refuse are jailed.
1972 Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to visit communist China.
1976 Mao Zedong dies.
1977 Deng Xiaoping, after much political fighting, is named Deputy Premier. He brings modern industry and culture to China and works to establish relations with other countries. His nickname: the Great Reformer.
June 1989 The 11-year-old democracy movement, led mostly by Chinese students, turns deadly. In Beijing's Tiananmen Square, demonstrations are squashed by the Chinese military on June 3 and 4.
November 1989 The retired Deng Xiaoping puts Jiang Zemin in charge of the Communist Party. Deng retires in 1990, but remains the nation's top leader until his death.

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