Deng Xiaoping: Leader in a Changing China (Lerner Biography)

Stewart, Whitney

ISBN 10: 082254962X ISBN 13: 9780822549628

Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books, 2001

Synopsis

Traces the life and career of the Chinese Communist leader who brought reforms and international trade to China in the 1980s.

About this title

About the Author

Whitney Stewart, always an eager traveler, journeys frequently to Asia. Seeing the Forbidden City in Beijing inspired her to study China's history. Stewart has also met and written about the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, and Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer.

Reviews

Grade 6-9-This straightforward biography places the story of the leader's life firmly within the context of the development of modern China. It begins with a very brief description of the downfall of the Qing dynasty. Deng Xiaoping was a small boy when the Qing rulers were ousted, and so the way was open for him to move outside the traditional system of Chinese education and assert his leadership at a time when change was in the air. The text chronicles his rise to power and his subsequent difficulties. Stewart points out her subject's tendency to observe and follow the dictates of Mao Zedong carefully, allowing himself to rise to positions of influence where he could exercise his own judgment. His prudence and patience when he was out of favor are explained as well as the steps he took to rehabilitate his image with Mao so that he could regain power. The author has a slight tendency to generalize, especially about the reasons for Deng Xiaoping's actions, and at times as she relates the more recent events in China, she seems somewhat more subjective than in earlier chapters. The book is well illustrated with black- and-white photographs. While it won't fill readers with excitement about China, it is a good introduction to a complicated and important 20th-century figure.
Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION Deng Xiaoping lived in China during a period that was marked by imperial rule, revolutionary republican organizations, warlord battles, foreign invasion, Communist revolution, and prodemocracy demonstrations. Deng was involved with many of these historic twentieth-century events.

Edition details

• Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 082254962X
• ISBN 13: 9780822549628
• Binding: Library Binding
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128