Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese Revolution: A Political Biography (Routledge in Asia)

David Goodman reaches beyond China's spectacular economic success of recent years to understand the sources of Deng's political power. This is a balanced evaluation of the career of one of the century's great political survivors. This study reaches beyond China's economic success of recent years to understand the sources of Deng's political power. It explores the way in which Deng has survived being purged three times via his contacts with key politicians, Zhou Enlai in the 1920s. To the outside world Deng Xiaoping represents a contradiction - he is both China's most successful moderniser, and the `Butcher of Beijing', China's supreme leader who must take responsibility for the events surrounding Tiananmen Square in June 1989. However, Deng the politition has no such contradiction: only the Chinese Communist Party can bring modernisation to China. For Deng any threat to the Communist Party is a threat to the project of China's modernisation. This book attempts to reach beyond the spectacular economic success of recent years to understand Deng's own particular role and the sources of his political power. Deng Xiaoping was involved with the communist movement before there was even a Communitst Party of China and his entire career has been shaped by both the party and the network of relationships and people within it. David Goodman explores the way in which Deng has survived being purged three times via his contacts with key politicians, Zhou Enlai in Paris in the early 1920s and Mao Zedong from 1933 to the early 1960s. His close relationship with the military from the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 through to the present day, has also enabled him to survive difficult political periods. Indeed, Deng's wartime experience, in the Taihang Mountains, plays a central but often overlooked role in his later career, particularly as a source of political support. David Goodman has been able to draw on the substantial documentary sources that have become available from China since 1989 as well as the analysis of Deng's political life that has proliferated inside the People's Republic in recent years. In addition, there is included a catalogue and analysis of the speeches and writings of Deng Xiaoping since 1938, that will prove to be an invaluable reference aid to his years of influence and power. The result is a balanced evaluation of Deng the politician that provides fresh insights into the career of one of the twentieth centuy's greatest political survivors. Arts, Language and Literature Book Cover 1 Title 4 Contents 5 Preface 8 Abbreviations 14 A chronological summary 16 Map of China 24 Deng Xiaoping, communism and revolution 26 Childhood, youth and travel, 1904 1937 47 Military service, 1937 1952 62 Party affairs and leadership, 1952 1960 74 Reconstruction and Mao, 1960 1966 88 Modernization and conflict, 1969 1978 102 The foundations of reform, 1979 1984 115 Reaction, readjustment and retirement, 1985 and after 127 Comrade Deng: a preliminary assessment 140 Deng Xiaoping in his own words: speeches and writings 151 Notes 188 Bibliography 211 Index 229 This study reaches beyond China's economic success of recent years to understand the sources of Deng's political power. It explores the way in which Deng has survived being purged three times via his contacts with key politicians, Zhou Enlai in the 1920s and Mao Zedong from 1933 to the 1960s. Annotation David Goodman reaches beyond China's spectacular economic success of recent years to understand the sources of Deng's political power. This is a balanced evaluation of the career of one of the century's great political survivors David S.g. Goodman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 186-203) And Index.