Deng Xiaoping

Profession: Paramount Leader of China

Nationality:

Biography: Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese revolutionary and politician who was a significant figure in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He is recognized for leading China towards a market economy after the Cultural Revolution and for introducing a series of political and economic reforms in the 1980s, a policy famously known as the "Opening Up and Reform."

Deng rose through the ranks of the CCP and held key roles during the Long March and the Anti-Japanese War. He was a part of Mao Zedong's inner circle in the years leading up to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. However, he fell out of favor during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s, when he was purged from his positions and sent to work in a tractor factory.

Deng returned to power after Mao's death in 1976 and gradually took control of China's economic policy, steering the country away from Mao's ideology of continuous revolution towards a focus on modernization and economic development. He introduced significant economic reforms and opened China to foreign investment, paving the way for the country's rapid economic growth.

Despite his economic reforms, Deng maintained a firm grip on political power and was known for his hardline stance on political dissent, which was evident during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. He remained a prominent figure in Chinese politics until his retirement in the early 1990s and his death in 1997.

Born: August 22, 1904
Birthplace: Guang'an, Sichuan, China

Generation: Greatest Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Dragon
Star Sign: Leo

Died: February 19, 1997 (aged 92)
Cause of Death: Lung infection & Parkinson's disease