On this Day in Chinese History; 19 February

This day, 19 February, in 1997, Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China’s socialist reform, opening up and modernisation drive, and an outstanding international strategist and diplomat, passed away. Inheriting and developing the diplomatic thoughts of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, Deng had systematically put forward the diplomatic concepts of China’s reform, making historic and great contributions to the new China.