2026-08-17
An account under Hubei Daily called "Donghu Youli" published an article stressing the importance of opening up to the global market and praising Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up policy, which was interpreted as a veiled criticism of Xi Jinping's contractionary policy.
2026-06-30
Xi Jinping praised Deng Xiaoping in an article carried by Xinhua News Agency, which outside observers interpreted as a signal of moderation; Hu Liren believes this is merely a smokescreen, intended to show that he endorses reform.
2026-06-27
Xinhua News Agency published an article concerning the CCP's 14th National Congress and Deng Xiaoping, re-emphasizing the socialist market economy and related historical line.
1997-02-19
Deng Xiaoping died on February 19, 1997. Jiang Zemin took full hold of supreme power, ushering in the Jiang Zemin era.
1997-02-19
Following the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997, Jiang Zemin broke free from the constraints of the supreme elder, assumed comprehensive control of party, government, and military power, and ushered in his era of governance.
1992-01-18
On the platform of Wuchang Railway Station, Deng Xiaoping hurled a stern warning at Hubei Provincial Party Secretary Guan Guangfu and others: "Development is the absolute principle, and whoever does not reform will step down."
1992-01-18
Deng Xiaoping delivered his southern tour speeches, emphasizing that development is of overriding importance, while reiterating the need to consistently uphold the Four Cardinal Principles and oppose bourgeois liberalization.
1992-01-17
Bypassing the CCP Central Committee and under the tight protection of the military, Deng Xiaoping quietly boarded a special train to leave Beijing and head south, initiating the southern tour often referred to as a military coup.
1992
In early 1992, Deng Xiaoping promoted and proposed the development of a socialist market economy, and the relevant line was confirmed during the 14th National Congress of the CCP.
1992
At the CCP's 14th National Congress in 1992, Deng Xiaoping named Hu Jintao to enter the Politburo directly and serve as Secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee, and also to join the Standing Committee; 49-year-old Hu Jintao was publicly established as the successor to the General Secretary.
1989-11
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 13th CCP Central Committee, held in November 1989, decided that Jiang Zemin would succeed Deng Xiaoping as Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission.
1989-08
According to Yu Maochun, in August 1989, two months after the June Fourth incident, East Germany's new General Secretary Krenz visited China and shook hands with Li Peng and Deng Xiaoping, a move that further inflamed the resistance sentiment of the East German people.
1989-07
Following the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, Deng Xiaoping ordered the official closure of Kanghua Company to isolate risks.
1989-06-23
During the 1989 protests, because he advocated resolving issues within the framework of democracy and the legal system, Zhao Ziyang was stripped of all his posts by Deng Xiaoping and subsequently placed under house arrest in Fuqiang Alley, Beijing, for fifteen years until his death from illness.
1989-06-23
After the 1989 June Fourth, Deng Xiaoping appointed Jiang Zemin as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
1989-06-09
Afterwards, Deng Xiaoping issued a victory proclamation, defining the June Fourth incident as a counter-revolutionary riot.
1989-06-03
Chinese students and citizens gathered in Beijing Tiananmen Square to demand reforms, anti-corruption measures, and freedom, and were met with a military crackdown by troops and tanks.
1989-06-03
As a power crisis loomed, Deng Xiaoping used tanks and machine guns to suppress the student movement, blocking China's path to freedom and democracy.
1989-05-21
Li Peng called Deng Xiaoping, suggesting convening an expanded Politburo meeting to implement the dismissal decision. Deng Xiaoping requested to wait until the army entered Beijing to hold the meeting.
1989-05-19
Deng Xiaoping convened a meeting at home and decided to remove Zhao Ziyang from the position of General Secretary. Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili were not notified of this meeting.
1989-05-17
Deng Xiaoping convened a Politburo Standing Committee meeting at home to discuss whether to impose martial law in Beijing, and Zhao Ziyang explicitly stated that it could not be carried out.
1989-05-08
Deng Xiaoping personally summoned the heads of the major military regions and branches, beginning the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of field troops to gather around Beijing.
1989-04-25
Deng Xiaoping officially made the decision to label the students' actions as "turmoil against the Party and socialism" and established a leading group to quell the turmoil.
1989-04-25
Deng Xiaoping summoned Premier of the State Council Li Peng, labeling it as "turmoil", setting the tone for the subsequent clearing operation.
1989-04-24
The Beijing Municipal Party Committee, at Deng Xiaoping's behest, reported to the Standing Committee of the Politburo, and put forward the theory of a "black hand in the Central Committee."
1989-04-19
Before his visit to North Korea, Zhao Ziyang consulted Deng Xiaoping, and Deng Xiaoping promised that after returning to China he would be appointed Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and agreed to the visit.
1989-03-08
On March 8, 1989, Li Peng issued a martial law decree for Lhasa on behalf of the State Council, following Deng Xiaoping's approval of martial law in Tibet, preventive arrests, and the decision that journalists and cadres could be shot on the spot; troops entered Lhasa on March 7.
1989-02-26
When meeting with U.S. President George H.W. Bush in Beijing, Deng Xiaoping stated that the overriding issue for China's problems is the need for stability; without a stable environment, nothing can be accomplished.
1989
In 1989, Zhao Ziyang bluntly told visiting Gorbachev that Deng Xiaoping was the absolute authority ruling from behind the curtain. During the June Fourth period, as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, he was unwilling to order the massacre, and was therefore politically purged.
1987-10-25
To force out senior party elders and continue to control the military, Deng Xiaoping announced his withdrawal from the Politburo Standing Committee, after which the CCP's 13th National Congress amended the party constitution, removing the requirement that the Chairman of the Central Military Commission be a Standing Committee member.
1987-10-25
The 13th National Congress of the CCP was held, establishing the Party's basic line for the primary stage of socialism.
1987-10
At the 13th National Congress in 1987, the Party Constitution was amended to delete the provision that the Chairman of the Central Military Commission must be chosen from among the members of the Standing Committee of the CCP Central Committee Political Bureau, allowing Deng Xiaoping, who was an ordinary Party member, to continue serving as Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
1987-01-16
Following the ongoing spread of the 1986 student protests, Deng Xiaoping criticized the central leadership for being weak on the ideological and theoretical front, and Hu Yaobang subsequently resigned from his position as General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee.
1987
After Hu Yaobang stepped down in 1987, Deng Xiaoping stated in a conversation with a Yugoslav diplomat that he opposed a multi-party system, elections, the separation of powers, and the idea of turning the National People's Congress and the CPPCC into a bicameral system.
1987
In 1987, due to political struggles such as the 1986 student movement, Hu Yaobang was completely defeated in his contest with Deng Xiaoping and lost his position as General Secretary.
1986
After obtaining the funding for the filming of "Hibiscus Town", Liu Xiaoqing pleaded for Jiang Zemin with Deng Xiaoping, and Deng's door reopened for Jiang Zemin.
1984
Deng Xiaoping said in a talk with Hong Kong people that there are good people in the Triads, as well as patriots.
1982-09
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited China and met with Deng Xiaoping, beginning negotiations on the future of Hong Kong. Ke Hua played a significant role in this process.
1982
To ensure that he could legally serve as Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Deng Xiaoping promoted an amendment to the CCP's 12th Congress party constitution, stipulating that the Chairman of the CMC must be selected from the members of the Politburo Standing Committee.
1981-06-27
The Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th CCP Central Committee was held from June 27 to 29. Hua Guofeng resigned as Chairman of the CCP Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Hu Yaobang succeeded him as Chairman, and Deng Xiaoping took over as Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
1979-03-30
In March 1979, Deng Xiaoping proposed the Four Cardinal Principles, explicitly rejecting the direction of political democratization reform.
1979-03-30
To prevent national development from being overemphasized to the point of subverting the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Deng Xiaoping introduced the Four Cardinal Principles, emphasizing the leadership position of the CCP.
1979-01-29
President Jimmy Carter hosted then-Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping and his wife Zhuo Lin. First Lady Rosalynn Carter meticulously prepared a bilingual Chinese-English calligraphy menu and a performance at the Kennedy Center.
1979-01-28
In 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited the United States at the invitation of US President Carter. The Chinese Communist Party subsequently carried out authoritarian reform for self-preservation, namely reform and opening up, in an attempt to defuse the crisis of an empty state and exhausted people.
1978-12-18
In late 1978, Deng Xiaoping came to power, establishing a departure from Mao Zedong's line and initiating reform and opening-up.
1978-05-11
By emphasizing that "practice is the sole criterion for testing truth," Deng Xiaoping defeated Hua Guofeng and established a governing philosophy centered on economic development.
1977-02-07
On February 7, 1977, People's Daily published an editorial titled "Study the Documents Well and Grasp the Key Link," which stated, "We resolutely uphold all policy decisions made by Chairman Mao; we unswervingly follow all instructions given by Chairman Mao." This later became known as the "Two Whatevers," and Hua Guofeng was accused of adhering to this principle.
1977
After Mao Zedong's death, in 1977, with the support of Deng Xiaoping and Hu Yaobang, China restored the gaokao (college entrance exam), allowing many children of families persecuted during the Cultural Revolution to change their fate through the exam. Subsequently, in the 1980s, overseas scholarships and government-sponsored study abroad programs emerged, and large numbers of Chinese students went to the United States for further studies.
1977
After Deng Xiaoping returned to power in 1977, he had Luo Ruiqing, Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission, transfer the affiliation of the Central Guard Regiment from the General Office of the CCP Central Committee to the CCP Central Military Commission, incorporating it into the Guard Bureau of the General Staff Department, and recalled Zhou Enlai's old chief guard, Yang Dezhong, back to Beijing to take charge of the Guard Bureau. From then on, the Director of the General Office no longer controlled this unit.
1972-08-03
Deng Xiaoping again wrote to Mao Zedong, engaging in sycophantic praise and reiterating his guarantee never to reverse verdicts.
1968-06-20
Deng Xiaoping wrote an extremely humble self-statement, admitting he was a capitalist roader and pledging never to reverse verdicts.
1966
Deng Xiaoping was labeled the second-numbered capitalist road faction within the Party, was sent to labor reform in Jiangxi, and his son Deng Pufang was tortured by Red Guards, resulting in disability.
1959-06-05
During the Great Famine disaster, Deng Xiaoping was accused of intentionally breaking his leg while playing billiards to evade political responsibility.
1957
As General Secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee, Deng Xiaoping was the frontline commander of the Anti-Rightist Campaign. He drafted documents and issued rigid quotas for the arrest of "rightists," leading to 550,000 intellectuals being labeled as such.
1933
In Ruijin, Jiangxi, Deng Xiaoping was labeled a Maoist for supporting Mao Zedong's line, subjected to struggle sessions and removed from his post. His wife, Jin Weiying, not only denounced him but also remarried Li Weihan, who had denounced him.
1926
To evade pursuit by French police, Deng Xiaoping made his way to Moscow, where he enrolled in Sun Yat-sen University to receive Soviet red ideology education.
1920
16-year-old Deng Xiaoping took his money to France for work-study, but after his scholarship was cut off, he could only work in a factory to make a living.
1904
Deng Xiaoping was born in a small village called Paifang in Guang'an, Sichuan. His father was a small landlord, and the family declined.