Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was born in Sichuan province in 1904 and became a communist as a worker-student in France in the early 1920s. A veteran of the revolution and civil war, he became vice premier and party general secretary after 1949. He was purged twice, during the Cultural Revolution and again in 1976, but returned to power in 1977 and by the end of 1978 had become China's paramount leader. He launched the reform and opening up policies and remained the decisive figure in Chinese politics until his death in 1997.

Admirers credit Deng with ending the chaos of the Mao era and laying the foundation for decades of rapid growth that made China a major economic power, and Time named him Person of the Year in 1978 and 1985. Critics stress that he kept the party's monopoly on power and crushed the 1989 pro-democracy protests. China said about 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel died in Beijing; other estimates ranged from several hundred to over 1,000, and a British diplomatic cable put the toll at 10,000 or more. He is also blamed for his part in the Anti-Rightist Campaign and in other Mao-era repression.