Deng's father, Deng Wenming, was a middle-levellandowner. He had studied at the University of Law and Political Science inChengdu. His mother, named Dan, died early in Deng's life. Deng had three brothers and three sisters.[1]
Deng's first wife was one of his schoolmates fromMoscow. She died at the age of 24 a few days after giving birth to Deng's first child, which was a baby girl. This daughter also died. His second wife was Jin Weiying. Jin left him after Deng was attacked in politics 1933. His third wifeZhuo Lin was the daughter of an industrialist inYunnan Province. She became a member of the Communist Party in 1938. She and Deng married in 1939 in front of Mao's cave home inYan'an. They had five children: three daughters (Deng Lin,Deng Nan andDeng Rong) and two sons (Deng Pufang and Deng Zhifang).
In the summer of 1919, Deng Xiaoping graduated from theChongqing School. He and 80 schoolmates travelled by ship to France. They were part of a work-study program. About 4,000 Chinese did this program by 1927. Deng was the youngest of all the Chinese students in the group. He was 15 years old.[2] Deng's father strongly supported his son's doing the work-study abroad program. Deng told his father he wanted "to learn knowledge and truth from the West in order to save China." Deng knew that China was suffering. He thought Chinese people must have a modern education to save their country.[3]
In France Deng met many future Chinese leaders:Zhou Enlai,Nie Rongzhen,Cai Hesen,Zhao Shiyan and Li Wenhai.[4] These older Chinese students helped Deng studyMarxism. In 1921 he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe. In 1924, he joined the Chinese Communist Party. He became one of the leaders of the Youth League in Europe. In 1926 Deng travelled to theSoviet Union and studied atMoscow Sun Yat-sen University. One of his classmates wasChiang Ching-kuo, the son ofChiang Kai-shek.[5]
In March 1927, Deng arrived inXi'an, northwest China from Moscow. He joined the army ofFeng Yuxiang. Feng had asked the Soviet Union for help. But at that time, the Soviet Union supported the Communists' alliance with the Nationalists of the Kuomintang. In 1929 Deng led theBaise Uprising in Guangxi province against theKuomintang government. The uprising failed, and Deng went to the Central Soviet Area inJiangxi province.
.jpg)
