Deng Xiaoping example essay topic

Deng Xiaoping's influences on the daily life of the Chinese people caused him to be portrayed as one of the greatest leaders of Chinese history. George Church recorded that Deng's openness to technological advances and new ideas changed the Chinese economy forever (26). For these reasons, Deng Xiaoping was chosen to be Time's Man of the Year for his accomplishments leading up to the year 1985. Born Deng Ximian (1904-1997) he changed his name as a young, Pro-Marxist revolutionary (Landsberger). Also known as Teng Hsiao-ping, he attended a modern primary school until he graduated and moved onto a French work-study program in 1920 (Smith, A 1). Although he gained little from the work experience, he did begin to study Marxism and eventually joined the Chinese Communist Party.

Moving to Moscow to study in 1926, Deng entered the Communist University of the Toilers and then transferred to Sun Yat-sen University (A 1). At that time, he was selected through the Communist International to be a member of the Chinese National Army in order to prepare for a revolution (A 1). Deng leapt at the chance, and in 1927 returned to China in order to fulfill those duties (A 1). Deng married Chang Xi yuan in 1928 (Yang, 56) and couple worked for Shanghai's underground Communist Party Center between 1927 and 1929 (55-56). One of his mentors, Zhou En lai, served as the Party Center's chief secretary, a link that would help Deng later in his career (57). In 1929, Deng assisted with communications for the Red Army, which later evolved into the People's Liberation Army (PLA), in China's civil war (Landsberger).

In 1932, two years after his first wife's death, Deng married his second wife, Ah Jin and she left him a year or two later to marry another. (Yang, 72-75). Deng's third and final marriage was to the young intellect Zhu o Lin (Franz, 112). The next significant change in Deng's life was in 1949, when he led the PLA to defeat the Chinese National Army in the final battle of Huaihai (Franz, 127). At that time, the People's Republic of China was formed (Yang, 112). A large celebration was held in the infamous Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949, where he was received as a hero (Franz, 129).

In late 1949, Deng and Liu Boche ng, a Red Army veteran, were assigned to conquer the remaining parts of southwest China, which they did quickly and successfully (Yang, 112). In 1952, Deng was transferred to Being, where he was immediately given the titles of vice-premier and of vice-chairman of the financial and economic commission (Evans, 124). In 1954, he was also appointed the new secretary-general of the Communist Party (124). The year 1957 marked the beginning of the "Great Leap Forward" (Evans, 140). This plan for economic development began with providing employment to all Chinese citizens, which started the trend of cooperative farm organizations and communes (Hoyt, 275).

Although the plan seemed impeccable, it proved to indeed have its flaws. Overestimated grain production and drought led to about three years of famine (280). In 1959, Premier Zhou admitted to the public that his Great Leap plan was nothing but a dream, covered by falsified figures (280). The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution began in 1966 and was devised by Chairman Mao Zedong, the founder of the Chinese Communist Party (Hoyt, 287). The goals of the Revolution were to destroy old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits (293). Through this revolution, millions of Chinese people were killed and an estimated 500 million were harmed in some way (287).

While Mao managed to sustain his popularity, Deng and Liu were accused of executing the Revolution by themselves, an idea that Mao and others endorsed (Evans, 175). Deng assumed a small amount of blame on his part, and he was stripped of all government and political positions in 1966 (185). However, in 1973, Mao reinstated Deng, supposedly at Zhou's request (185). On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong died (Franz, 253). Although Deng was the destined successor, Mao left in his will his wishes for his widow, Jiang Qing, to succeed him (253). Unhappy with this, the Revolutionary Committee arrested Jiang and replaced her with the elected Hua Guofeng in 1981 (256).

The Chinese Congress selected Deng to be the Second Deputy Party Chairman, and soon after was promoted to First Deputy (260-261). A gradual process, Deng eventually became China's apical leader (Yang, 208). As the leader of China, Deng gradually brought about what he called the "second revolution" of China though his own ideology and philosophy (Thomas, 4). His reforms dealing with the economy, ownership of land and labor have led him to be one of the greatest potentates of China (Zuckerman, 70). Deng mixed capitalistic views with Marxist Communism, which had several effects (Church, 25). By switching to a form of privatized land ownership, 180 million peasant families now rent land on long-term leases (Zuckerman, 70).

With changed methods of payment for labor, people are more likely to mass-produce food and goods, allowing for surplus and exports (70). The rural industry employs over 100 million people (70). Altogether, Deng integrated capitalism into China, which succored its economy greatly. The only action that actually occurred around the year 1985 for Deng was his speech at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1984 (Evans, 272).

This speech was in honor of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. Deng spoke of the transformations that had occurred during his reign (273). He noted, "On a foundation of national stability, unity, democracy and the rule of law, we have given socialist modernization the highest priority in our work" (Evans, 273). Deng Xiaoping was chosen for Time's Man of the Year for the year 1985 because of his progressive actions in China and the eventual changes made to the economy and government. Deng ameliorated China in such ways that no other person could have done, especially considering his downfalls that came along with his triumphs. Because he went through so many different times in China's changing society, he was enabled to understand how current Chinese systems function.

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