Deng Xiaoping was born on August 22, 1904 and he would greatly change China.

1. Deng Xiaoping was born on August 22, 1904 and he would greatly change China.

2. As a young man, Deng left China and studied in France. He worked in a factory under terrible conditions and discovered Marxism.

3. Upon returning to China, Deng joined the Chinese Communist Party.

4. Deng Xiaoping survived the Long March. Many communists died on the Long March as they escaped nationalist soldiers.

5. When the Japanese invaded China, the Chinese communists and nationalists stopped fighting each other and fought the Japanese.

6. After World War II, the Chinese civil war resumed and the communists won after gaining the support of the peasants.

7. But just because Deng had sacrificed for the Communist Party did not mean that his political future was assured.

8. During Mao Zedong’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Deng was punished. Mao accused Deng of being an anti-revolutionary.

9. But in 1973, Deng was called back to politics to help end the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

10. By 1978, Deng Xiaoping was the leader of Communist China.

11. Deng Xiaoping began a series of reforms to change China and end the chaos that was created during the Cultural Revolution.

12. Deng began by allowing farmers the right to keep and sell surplus crops.

13. Deng encouraged elements of a free market economy to increase productivity by increasing personal incentives.

14. But for all of Deng’s economic reforms, he would not tolerate movements for democracy.

15. When students gathered in Tiananmen Square in 1989, protesting for democratic reforms, Deng Xiaoping ordered them to leave the square.

16. When the pro-democracy students refused to leave, Deng ordered the military to clear the square.

17. Many student protesters were killed.

18. Yes, Deng’s legacy is a mixed legacy. He improved China’s economy but crushed pro-democracy movements.