Xiaoping Path

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2011-09-30

Xiaoping Path is the route Deng Xiaoping walked to and fro his dormitory and the workshop where he once worked in.

Xiaoping Path is located in Xinjian county that adjoins Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi province. It has developed into a memorial park because of Deng Xiaoping.

Deng was born in 1904 and died in 1997. He was a Marxist, proletarian revolutionist, statesman, militarist strategist and diplomat. He is one of the most important political leaders in the history of the People's Republic of China. He was the chief designer of Chinese socialist reform, opening up and modernized construction.

The winding path through fields, infested with weeds, joins Xinjian Tractor Accessories Plant and Nanchang Infantry School. Deng walked to and fro the 1.5 km path for three years and four months.

The statue of Deng Xiaoping

During the "cultural revolution", Deng, in his 60s, was excoriated from October 1969 to February 1973. He was removed from his central leading post and transferred to the suburb of Nanchang city as a bench worker in a plant. Deng was familiar with the job because he did it 50 years ago when he worked and studied in France. He resided in the Building of the General in the infantry school. Each morning, Deng and his wife walked three kilometers to work at the plant. They had no choice but to take the long route that took nearly one hour. The workshop director discussed this with his fellow workers and opened up a small door at the back wall of the plant. They paved a path along the ridge of the field that lead to Deng's dormitory. From then on, Deng and his wife walked for only 20 minutes to the workshop. So this path then became known as Xiaoping Path.

Deng walked to and fro the 1.5 km path for three years and four months.

When the "cultural revolution" ended and Deng returned to Beijing, he put forward the basic line of reform and opening up in 1979. This was aimed at the peaceful reunification of China with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Deng was responsible for the idea of One Country, Two Systems. Under this idea, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 and Macao was reunited in 1999.

On May 1, 2002, Nanchang city opened up the Xiaoping Path to the public. The areas, including Deng's workshop and his bench tool, and the tractor that sent Deng to hospital, have become an education base encouraging young people to stand up to frustrations with optimism, like Deng did.

The Memorial Hall of the Xiaoping Path