Deng was born in Guang'an County, in the province of Sichuan, on August 22, 1904. Xiaoping's mother, Dan by her family name, died early. At the age of five the boy entered an old-fashioned private pre-school. In 1919, he met Wu Yezhang, a member of the Chongqing,who offered him to go to France on a work-study program. After passing the entrance examinations, the boy was accepted to the school. During his teenage years, Deng Xiaoping already had some simple patriotic ideas. After the May 4th Movement of 1919, he joined his schoolmate in a boycott of Japanese goods. But his ardent hope was to go to France to learn industrial skills through work and study for the benefit of the country. | |
In the summer of 1920, 16 years old Deng Xiaoping was the youngest of all the Chinese students who went to France. Having very high expectations, he kept on unskillful work and gained little, which made him disappointed. However, Russian October Revolution was an impetus to all the new bright ideas he came up with. Under the influence of his seniors, Zhao Shiyan, Zhou Enlai and others, Deng began to study Marxism and did political propaganda work. In 1922 he joined the Communist Party of Chinese Youth 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. At last, he arrived in his homeland in the spring of 1927. Six years? long experience abroad made Deng Xiaoping a staunch revolutionist with a basic understanding of Marxism-Leninism. In March 1927 he accepted the Party's offer to go to Xi'an and work at the Sun-Yat-sen Military and political Academy. This was the first place where he carried out revolutionary activities in China. And then, Deng Xiaoping insisted on working for the revolution of Chinese and made a lot of contributions. He made a very good impression and showed great effort during Huai-Hai Campaigns and the Liberating the Great Southwest In July 1952 the Central Committee of the Party transferred Deng Xiaoping to the central organs. This transfer marked the beginning of another important period in his revolutionary career. He served first as both executive Vice-Premier of the Government Administration Council and Vice-Chairman of the Financial and Economic Commission. At the age of 52 he became one of the chief leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, together with Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Chen Yun. From September 1956 to May 1966 , China began to build socialism in an all-round way. Deng Xiaoping participated in the policy decisions of the Party and the state. At the same time he put forward valuable proposals on many subjects- strengthening Party building procedures. |