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Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life

Alexander V. Pantsov,

Steven I. Levine

3.88 · Rating details · 85 Ratings · 24 Reviews

Deng Xiaoping joined the Chinese Communist movement as a youth and rose in its ranks to become an important lieutenant of Mao's from the 1930s onward. Two years after Mao's death in 1976, Deng became the de facto leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the prime architect of China's post-Mao reforms. Abandoning the Maoist socio-economic policies he had long fervently sup ...more

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Hardcover, 640 pages

Published May 1st 2015 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published April 1st 2015)

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Mar 06, 2015 Hadrian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: china, biography-memoir, nonfiction, politics-and-foreign-policy, history

This biography of Deng Xiaoping was written by the same team who wrote the biography Mao: The Real Story in 2012. That book was an even-handed study of a complex, if tyrannical, subject, which avoided the wild caricatures of Mao: The Unknown Story.

In this book, they take almost a messianic approach to the field - the authors say this is the only complete and objective book on the subject (pg. 8), as all the others are obsolete or critically flawed. The only other book they deign to address by n This biography of Deng Xiaoping was written by the same team who wrote the biography Mao: The Real Story in 2012. That book was an even-handed study of a complex, if tyrannical, subject, which avoided the wild caricatures of Mao: The Unknown Story.

In this book, they take almost a messianic approach to the field - the authors say this is the only complete and objective book on the subject (pg. 8), as all the others are obsolete or critically flawed. The only other book they deign to address by name is Ezra Vogel's Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, and even then they chide it for overemphasizing Deng's positive aspects. But that book is largely a policy analysis, and this is a biography.

For what it's worth, the book does an admirable job at filling in the gaps of Deng's biography. It gives ample detail to his youth as a factory worker in France, his brief education in Moscow, and his time spent as a revolutionary in Guangxi. There's even a useful discussion of the murky history of how the young Deng left his post after two years and fled to Shanghai. His conflict with the early leadership of the Chinese Communist Party led him to become close associates with another man in the political wilderness - Mao Zedong.

Deng's relationship with Mao Zedong is one of the major occupations of the book. The authors state that Deng was a devoted follower of Mao from the very beginning. Before the CCP won the civil war and seized power in 1949, Deng was occasionally able to send suggestions to Mao and Mao would act upon them. Mao, for his part, considered Deng a valuable supporter and a useful political organizer. Deng even supported Mao's policies through the beginning of the Great Leap Forward - and it was only in the 1960s that cracks began to appear - mostly imagined by Mao. Even in the rush of criticism after Mao, Deng was very modest in his stated claims, acknowledging his own mistakes. But this, it seems, was too much for Mao to endure.

Pantsov and Levine's treatment of Deng in power at first appears similar to the Vogel book. Both treat Deng as a pragmatist par-excellence, who was willing to do whatever worked, and exercised caution compared to the extremes of Mao's policy. But although Vogel tends to excuse some of Deng's later crackdowns against Western media and at Tiananmen, Pantsov and Levine are more direct, even biting, in their explanations. They can humanize Deng if they want to (take, for example, the decoration of his 80th birthday cake), but they do not hesitate to describe his flaws.

Still, this is an energetic and well-researched book which captures Deng's social idealism and his political brutality. It is a useful counterbalance to the extreme praise of the other major book by Vogel. This is a useful and necessary book. ...more

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Jan 23, 2015 Joseph rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, political-science

Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life by Alexander V. Pantsov, Steven I Levine is the biography of arguably the second most important person in modern China. Paston is a professor of history and holds the Edward and Mary Catherine Gerhold Chair in the Humanities at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He has published numerous scholarly works including fifteen books, among them The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927 and Mao: The Real Story. Levine is research faculty associate, Depar Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life by Alexander V. Pantsov, Steven I Levine is the biography of arguably the second most important person in modern China. Paston is a professor of history and holds the Edward and Mary Catherine Gerhold Chair in the Humanities at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He has published numerous scholarly works including fifteen books, among them The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927 and Mao: The Real Story. Levine is research faculty associate, Department of History, University of Montana. He is the author, co-author, and editor of numerous works, including Mao: The Real Story and Arc of Empire: America's Wars in Asia from the Philippines to Vietnam, co-authored with Michael H. Hunt.

Without a doubt, Mao played the key role in creating twentieth century China. He molded the country to his ideals and kept China on the path he saw fit. From a budding relationship with Stalin to breaking with Khrushchev over reforms, violently interfering in other socialist countries, and his general boorish public behavior, Mao lead China on the "true socialist" path. Behind Mao were trusted colleagues, one would rise to set China up a world power in the twenty-first century. Xiaoping for the most part was behind the scenes shaping what would become modern China and its mix of socialism and capitalism.

Xiaoping was a long time follower and supporter of Mao from his earliest days fighting the Japanese and Chiang Kai-shek. He became a loyal follower of Mao and rose through the ranks. From his early days studying in France as part of "Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement," Xiaoping became disenchanted with the capitalist world. He joined the Communist Youth League and then the Chinese Communist Party. He also studied in Moscow before returning to China. He recalled his Moscow days were much more comfortable than his time in France.

In the West, Xiaoping is probably best known for his quote: "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice." Although devoted to Mao, Xiaoping like others who turned to communism were probably more interested in ending colonial rule or bringing their nation to their rightful place in the world. In the bipolar post-World War II world nations and leaders wanting independence often turned to the communists because it was the capitalist countries that were doing the colonizing. Xiaoping wanted to see China occupy a place of prominence on the world stage. His work as a "capitalist roader" inside China's elite shaped China into the powerhouse it is today. However, it was the same ideas that caused him to get purged in the Cultural Revolution. Unlike many victims of purges, Xiaoping came back and returned to the party elite.

A Revolutionary Life covers not only Xiaoping's life but also gives a history of China in the twentieth century. Xiaoping's life is presented as part of the timeline of China as much as it is about the individual. The writing is very detailed as well as very well documented. This book is a little examined but important part of history as well as the basis for the current growing Chinese hegemony. An outstanding history and biography. ...more

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Jul 14, 2015 Jean rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book, biography, history

Deng Xiaoping was a devoted member of the communist party. Unlike Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping left almost no paper trail which has made it difficult for historians. He was noted to be crafty, and an obsessive bridge player. Deng Xiaoping was educated in France.

Pantsov, a professor of history at Capital University in Ohio, has done extensive research into the life of Deng Xiaoping. Steven I. Levine is a research faculty associate in the Department of History at the University of Montana. They spent ...more

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Jan 18, 2018 Carlos Martinez rated it really liked it

This is brilliant and very useful biography, well worth the read for those interested in modern Chinese history. It's not without its faults: Pantsov's ideological perspective is basically anticommunist, and grounded in the assumption that western capitalist democracy is the best thing since the invention of almond croissants); and the author relies on some pretty spurious sources at times ('The Private Life of Chairman Mao', come on). Nevertheless, the book is quite comprehensive and very well ...more

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Mar 23, 2016 Adrian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

As this is the third biography of Deng Xiaoping within 4 years, the immediate question one may ask is, why another?
Well, Alexander Pantsov has delivered perhaps the most balanced, and complete biography of Deng Xiaoping on the market today. In contrast to the more extensive Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F Vogel, Pantsov's work is a complete biography of his life. In many ways, the chronological coverage is almost completely reversed.
While Vogel spends very little time on As this is the third biography of Deng Xiaoping within 4 years, the immediate question one may ask is, why another?
Well, Alexander Pantsov has delivered perhaps the most balanced, and complete biography of Deng Xiaoping on the market today. In contrast to the more extensive Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F Vogel, Pantsov's work is a complete biography of his life. In many ways, the chronological coverage is almost completely reversed.
While Vogel spends very little time on Deng Xiaoping's early years, and soon skips to the crucial final 20 years of his life, Pantsov provides a complete portrait of the man, with insight that is most definitely lacking in the previous biographies.
Additionally, Pantsov has set out, and arguably succeeded, in presenting a balanced and objective view of the man, that is neither a deification, nor a hatchet job.
By providing a comprehensive coverage of Deng Xiaoping's whole life, we are presented with a man who was in every sense an adventurous native of China who set out on a revolutionary path in France, a convert and a true believer in communism, and finally, and perhaps more crucially, a reformer driven by pragmatism.
A key strength of Pantsov's work, much like his earlier Mao: The Real Story, is his access to now declassified Soviet archives, that reveal extensive details of Deng, and the rest of the Chinese leaderships, interactions with the USSR, and the crucial Sino-Soviet split. While this does provide insight that perhaps may be lacking in other works, it is not the sole strength, nor is it crucial to the backbone of the work.
The strength of the book is Pantsov's objectivity, and his disinclination to be drawn toward pictures of the man that have arisen from ideas of Deng as a capitalist at heart, or a liberal at heart, or some kind of savior of the Chinese nation.
Pantsov acknowledges and covers how Deng was a very enthusiastic Maoist, who persecuted so called class enemies, and was an ardent and devoted follower of Mao. He was also a passionate revolutionary who truly believed in the cause of the Chinese communist party, and had not intention whatsoever of any kind of bourgeois liberalization.
As such, Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life is an informative read, and an essential one for anyone wishing to clearly understand the man who left the most decisive mark on modern China. It provides a full and complete portrait of Deng Xiaoping's life, rather than concentrating on the crucial final 20 years in power.
As opposed to Michael Dillon's work, a noble effort in itself, Pantsov provides greater insight into Deng's earlier revolutionary years, and his years in power.
While more objective and comprehensive than Vogel's work, Vogel's book is still worth reading due to the extensive insight into the crucial period at the helm.
However, Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life is perhaps the fullest, most revealing, and most objective biography of Deng Xiaoping currently available, and as such, is essential reading for anyone interested in modern China. ...more

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Jul 13, 2015 Jeff rated it liked it

An informative book, perhaps even an essential book for anyone wishing to understand China today. But Deng's life is told from a limited perspective. His early history seems to be merely what was recorded from meeting minutes of various communist forums and committees. Agreed, there are few living witnesses to some of this history. But the committee assignments and decisions are mind-numbing, particularly when they occur during events such as the war against Japan and the Long March. Almost noth ...more

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Jun 05, 2017 Marks54 rated it liked it

Deng Xiaoping is arguably one of the pivotal individuals in the world history of the second half of the 20th century. He led the development of China out of the Maoist era and into a period in which China's rapid growth and industrialization has changed the world economy and lifted over a billion people out of dire poverty. So a quality biography of Deng is worthwhile reading for anyone interested in how China successfully transitioned by an impoverished and poor totalitarian dictatorship to the Deng Xiaoping is arguably one of the pivotal individuals in the world history of the second half of the 20th century. He led the development of China out of the Maoist era and into a period in which China's rapid growth and industrialization has changed the world economy and lifted over a billion people out of dire poverty. So a quality biography of Deng is worthwhile reading for anyone interested in how China successfully transitioned by an impoverished and poor totalitarian dictatorship to the "Chinese Miracle".

Alexander Pantsov claims that this new biography of Deng is superior to the recent one by Ezra Vogel. This claim is buttressed by the use of newly available materials from Communist archives. The claim is also motivated by the shortcomings that Pantsov attributes to the Vogel biography, namely that it overemphasizes the time since the death of Mao and paints an overall too positive picture of Deng. Rather, the Pantsov is more honest and objective by focusing on Deng as a pragmatic and ruthless follower of Mao who shares responsibility for the death of millions due to his involvement in the great famine after 1958 and the Cultural Revolution. This is the Deng Xiaoping who also gave the order to violently suppress the Tiananmen Square democracy protests in 1989. This is the picture of Deng that should be remembered by subsequent generations and not the avuncular grandfather and leader who brought about "socialism with Chinese characteristics".

The book is enjoyable and worth reading but Pantsov's claims about it do not hold up - at least they are not supported in my opinion. To start with, I thought Vogel's book was enjoyable and useful - much more than Pantsov's book. If Vogel spends more time on Deng's career after 1976, that is perhaps because that period is more important for understanding Deng's role in Chinese economic development. I did not sense that Vogel was too positive on Deng at all. That he was clever and pragmatic is not surprising. Mao's leadership team was a rough neighborhood most of the time so one would not be surprised to find that the survivors were clever and practical. That is why they survived! To Pantsov's claim that Deng was complicit in the excesses of Mao's totalitarian state is also not very interesting. One recalls Henry Kissinger's quote about Andropov to the effect that KGB leaders tend not to be choir boys.

After reading Pantsov, I will admit to two takeaways. First, Mao was right about Deng being a "Capitalist Roader" -- that became clear after Mao's death. Second, Bukharin and the NEP policy in the USSR do provide a theoretical basis for understanding how Deng tried to build "socialism with Chinese characteristics". I had not realized this before reading the book. The style of the book is odd as well, with several sections reading as if they are translations of CCP pamphlets rather than a considered narrative. Any 600+ bio will be a bit of a slog but there is no need to make it worse with prose that sounds more like agitprop and social science.

I did like the book, even with its shortcomings. ...more

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Jan 01, 2018 Ryan rated it liked it

There's a huge wealth of information both about the man and the context in which he lived. The book makes use of extensive archival evidence and is fastidiously annotated. The major drawback is the authors' failure to acknowledge their own biases.
They explicitly claim to have written the first ever "objective" biography of Deng, and acknowledge no opinions or preconceptions of their own that might influence their portrayal of events. Their writing, however, clearly favours certain political, ph ...more

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Jul 30, 2017 Jesse Field rated it it was amazing

Shelves: learn

I finished this back in June 2017, and should have reviewed it then. All I can think to say now is that Deng remains interesting primarily for his fantastic level of political astuteness, first and foremost. But the biography has very compelling and interesting new coverage of his early life, including his break, reunion and betrayal of his parents, his military missteps in Guangxi province in 1929 and in the failed uprisings afterward, and emphasis on his sycophantic relationship with Mao, espe ...more

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Sep 08, 2017 Eric rated it liked it

This unassuming biography describes the life and times of Deng Xiaoping in letters and meeting notes. According to the legendary communist's wishes, it includes both the good and the bad, from Deng's role in the disastrous Great Leap Forward to his undeserved suffering in the Cultural Revolution; from his market reforms to his bloody suppression of student protests in Beijing.

Perhaps because Deng was a private individual--he apparently didn't open up even to his close family--Pantsov's descripti ...more

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Jun 19, 2017 B. Cheng rated it really liked it

Shelves: audible, china

Really the first fully comprehensive biography of Deng that is available in English, it portrays him as an extremely Machiavellian schemer who has both good and bad to answer for and who played the "reform"/"conservative" factions in the government against each other the same way he saw Mao do so.

At the same time, its hard to offer a summary of a life like Deng's, he was involved in Chinese politics from before the revolution up to the mid 90s, spanning 6 very different decades in the history o ...more

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Oct 04, 2017 Ietrio rated it liked it

Shelves: bio

Pantsov delivers what the Russians do best: a hagiography. Sure, there is the big advantage of not having to do all the research, but beyond the structure, the contribution of Alexander Pantsov is nil. Shallow and uncritical he delivers legend along documents without any trace of concern.

Also, Pantsov is a misogynist, probably more than the people described in these pages.

He was married at thirteen to a young girl who turned out to be barren. Therefore, two years later Deng Wenming had to bring

...more

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Jul 07, 2017 Abhilash Keshav rated it it was amazing

Socialism with Chinese Characteristic. Modi is considered as India's Deng Xiaoping. There could be no higher honor for him than this, but it is very early to compare the achievements of Modi (hardly there are any) with that of the Deng(the doer).

Deng Xiaoping did what Lee Kuan Yew considered impossible i.e successfully reforming the growth and market economy of a large country.

Book has managed to capture the Interesting life of its subject while still remaining neutral.

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Feb 13, 2018 Tadas Talaikis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history

Book full of Russian curse words (English speakers wouldn't get it) :-D

Jokes aside, this is excellent book, because we (I) don't know much about hidden from Western world Chinese political leaders. It doesn't reveal everything (like Deng's crimes), but still excellent for its scope.

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Dec 23, 2017 Russell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

An important book to understand the March of the Chinese economy

The book makes sense of the development of private enterprise in a socialist economy. It sets out the magnitude of the task to achieve a revolution, fight a war and govern a billion people.

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Mar 21, 2018 Talmadge Walker rated it really liked it

Thorough biography of the Chinese leader. Generally strives to be balanced, though perhaps there are a few too many joking references to the "former number two capitalist roader." Excellent use of Soviet source material in describing Mao's relationship to Stalin & Khrushchev.

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Oct 11, 2017 Song rated it it was amazing

叙事流畅，涵盖邓小平的生平功业。不隐恶，不贬低，持论公正。邓作为中国共产主义革命的关键参与者，他见证了毛泽东的时代。而作为改革开放年代的总设计师，他的决策仍然在今天的中国发挥着巨大的作用。这本书极具意义，无论从对历史的理解，还是对现实的影响来看，都是如此。

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Oct 07, 2018 Peter Bennett rated it liked it

Shelves: world-historical-figures

Panstov's prose is dry and tedious. I only finished the book because of the subject matter.

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Jun 06, 2018 Trung Nguyen Dang rated it liked it

Too long, very detailed but balanced. It sounds as if the author was present around the events.

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Jan 02, 2017 Theodoros Dounas rated it liked it

Shelves: china, cpc, deng

There are better books out there on Deng.

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Oct 25, 2016 萧行 Xiaoxing rated it liked it

20世纪初中国四川富裕的农家弟子也无法负担西欧强国的学费；
法国每天五块钱的生活，让主人公“看透了资本主义的罪恶”；
恰在此时莫斯科立足未稳的共产党“广招天下英豪”、要进行“世界革命”；
开办“中山大学”，中国学生吃住全免、暑期集体黑海度假；
唯一的要求是“为共产主义奋斗终身”；
既然“失去的只是枷锁”那又何乐而不为。
二三十年代共产党急速的“潮起潮落”让多少“第一代中共党员”沦为历史的配角；
而所有坚持下来的都成了“老干部”。
在“伴君如伴虎”的年代里，高刘林周一个个马失前蹄；
来得早不如来得巧、1975年/76年的二把手才是真正的储君；
风水轮流转、终于到我家；只可惜“天不变道亦不变”，胡赵竟成了80年代的刘林。
洋务派又玩起开放、宗人府又竖起“帝国万世一系，永永尊戴”的“基本原则”、
德国内核、俄国原装进口的西洋“新瓶”，竟装的还是那大清国的二锅头。

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Sep 12, 2016 Omar Ali rated it really liked it

I did not finish the book, but I read big chunks of it and it was very good. It seems a very fair and detailed biography and gives new insights into the murky world of Chinese Communist Party politics. I did read the whole section around Deng's last fall and rehabilitation and it is a must read for anyone interested in modern China. Though the authors do not emphasize the point, it is worth noting that the high command of the CCP was never just one man doing what he pleased and especially after ...more

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Dec 28, 2016 Jordan Schneider rated it really liked it

It paints an unflattering and convincing portrait of Deng in the Mao era, but the book oddly skims over Deng’s actual reign. Pantsov’s Russian language skills shine through with strong analysis of PRC-USSR relations and the impact the Communist big brother had on their southern neighbor.

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