Deng Xiaoping

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 Xixian (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, A1). 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 (A1). At that time, he was selected through the Communist International...