Deng Xiaoping died on 19 February 1997 in Beijing, aged 92. A Chinese politician, Deng Xiaoping studied in France in the early 1920s, joined the Communist Party and took part in the Long March. He rose to senior positions but was purged twice during the Mao era, including in the Cultural Revolution. After Mao's death in 1976 he gradually became China's paramount leader, from 1978. He launched the policy of reform and opening up, which introduced market mechanisms, family farming and special economic zones such as Shenzhen, and initiated decades of rapid growth. He also backed the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He devised the formula of one country, two systems for Hong Kong, and died in 1997, just before its return to Chinese rule.
Before and after
- 1997Founding of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- 1997Founding of Subaru Telescope
- 19971997 becomes the warmest year on record
- 25 January 1997Norwegian rocket incident
- 19 February 1997Death of Deng Xiaoping
- 28 February 1997North Hollywood shootout
- from 10 March 1997 to 20 May 2003Premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- from 31 March 1997 to 11 November 2022Premiere of Teletubbies
- 29 April 1997Founding of Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 12 March 1947 to 25 December 1991Cold War
- 15 August 1947India and Pakistan become independent
- 10 December 1948Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- from 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975Vietnam War
- 26 December 1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union
- 24 February 2022Full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.