Not a dinner Party

In 1956, the Eighth National Congress of the CPC, at the strong recommendation of Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the CPC Central Committee, elected Deng general secretary of the Central Committee. Thus, he became a chief Party leader at the age of 52.

For the next 10 years, Deng directed the daily affairs of the committee, which he later characterized as the "busiest period in my life."

The Cultural Revolution, launched in 1966, was a period of political extremism. During the 10 years of turmoil, Deng Xiaoping was twice discredited and removed from office, which he later recalled as the most painful ordeal in his career.

In October 1969, Deng and his wife were sent under escort to Xinjian County, Jiangxi Province. He was dismissed from all his posts and was forced to do manual labor at a county tractor repair plant.

His eldest son Deng Pufang, then a student of physics at Peking University, was tortured and forced out of a four-story window, which left him confined to a wheelchair.

After Deng Pufang lost the use of his legs, he was sent to live with his parents after repeated requests from them. His father took on the additional responsibility of nursing him. The younger Deng later became president of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, who was awarded the UN Prize for Human Rights in December 2003.

During confinement, Deng Xiaoping is said to have formed a habit of walking around silently in quick steps while contemplating. He retained the habit the rest of his life. Historians like to speculate that Deng most likely deliberated on how to best to use socialism in directing his vision of China.

It was Premier Zhou Enlai who welcomed Deng back into the high-ranks of the Party in 1973. Deng was then restored to his post as vice premier of the State Council. Nevertheless, while Mao Zedong supported Deng Xiaoping in his administration of the day-to-day work of the central leadership, he could not tolerate Deng's systematic addressing of the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution. Mao therefore launched a movement to criticize Deng and purged him for a third time. But in July 1977, after Mao passed away, Deng was back in the leadership again, setting the stage for a new period of national reform.

Taking off his crown

How to ensure economic rejuvenation amid the global industrial adjustment topped the agenda of the country's leadership at the end of the 1970s. Deng is credited as the first to propose China undertake reform, insisting the Party adopt an open policy to gradually privatize sections of the state economy.

The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in December 1978 marked a turning point in CPC history. The notion that class struggle was the "key link," or primary goal, was abandoned. The Party's focus was shifted to "socialist modernization," or industrializing China and importing technology, while retaining the primacy of the state. The session concluded that reform must be a fundamental national policy, insisting China find a unique path of development or build "socialism with Chinese characteristics."

Deng became the backbone of the second generation of central leadership after the meeting. However, he stressed the importance of bringing young blood into positions of leadership. He stood firmly for abolishing permanent tenure in leading posts, attempting to set an example himself.

In 1984, Deng relinquished his title as chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top advisory body. In October 1987, Deng resigned as a member of the Party Central Committee, its Political Bureau and the Politburo Standing Committee, while accepting reappointment as chairman of the Central Military Commission. Deng eventually retired from this position as well in 1989.

Southern tour

With political upheavals occurring both domestically and internationally in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, China faced another major historical juncture.

China's foreign trade plummeted and foreign investors were reluctant to come to China.

However, the economies of neighboring countries and regions, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the Republic of Korea, were soaring, leaving China far behind.

Domestically, questions about how to deepen China's reform were surfacing. A debate raged over which to emphasize more: promoting economic development or opposing Western peaceful evolution. Conservatives in the Party were wary that China was stepping toward capitalism by tiptoeing to a market economy. Some scorned the country's special economic zones, which Deng initiated.

Deng had a conviction that both China's political stability and people's standard of living hinged on economic growth. Even after retirement, Deng continued to warn senior leaders that China must continue a policy of reform and not close up culturally or politically.

Perhaps to underscore this, an 88-year-old Deng started his fabled tour of south China in 1992, traveling to Shenzhen, the mainland's first economic pilot reform zone next to Hong Kong, and Shanghai, the financial center of the eastern seaboard. He made speeches during his trip in response to critics of his faith in economic development, and his belief that it is a prerequisite for political reform.

In October 1992, the third generation of central leadership, headed by Jiang Zemin, officially defined the socialist economic system as the goal of national reform. The CPC also officially endorsed Deng Xiaoping Theory as a guide for the Party.

Deng's policies have proven thus far to be far-sighted. He is remembered by many Chinese as an intelligent man of decisive action, always of those actions aware of the costs.