Deng Rong

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Deng Rong

| native_name = {{nobold|邓榕}}

| image = Xiao-Rong-1.JPG

| caption = Deng Rong in Bad Kissingen, Germany, in 2006

| alt = Maomao 毛毛
Xiao Rong 萧榕{{cite web|author=Wang Duoruo 王笃若|title=Deng jia houdai neng fuzhi Deng Xiaoping? 邓家后代能复制邓小平？ [Can the descendants of the Deng family reproduce Deng Xiaoping?]|url=http://www.aboluowang.com/2016/0418/725239.html|publisher=Aboluo Net|date=18 April 2016|accessdate=13 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504095632/http://www.aboluowang.com/2016/0418/725239.html|archive-date=4 May 2016|url-status=live}}

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|January 1950}}

| birth_place = Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

| office1 = Deputy president of the China Association for International Friendly Contact (Chinese:中国国际友好联合会)

| alongside1 =

| term_start1 = 1990

| term_end1 =

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Chinese Communist Party

| spouse = He Ping

| children = Zhuo Yue

| parents = Deng Xiaoping
Zhuo Lin

| relatives = siblings:
Deng Lin
Deng Pufang
Deng Nan
Deng Zhifang

| education = Beijing Medical College

| signature =

| website =

}}

Deng Rong ({{zh|c=邓榕|p=Dèng Róng}}) is a Chinese politician and the third daughter of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.{{cite journal|last1=Tanner|first1=Murray Scot|last2=Feder|first2=Michael J.|year=1993|title=Family Politics, Elite Recruitment, and Succession in Post-Mao China|journal=The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs|volume=30|issue=30|page=114|doi=10.2307/2949993|jstor=2949993|s2cid=155297693 }}

She has been accused of playing a key role in the cover-up of the 1966 killing of Bian Zhongyun by Red Guards (Deng was a prominent student leader of the Red Guards at the time).

Early life

Deng is the youngest child of Deng Xiaoping and his third wife, Zhuo Lin. She has two older sisters, Deng Lin and Deng Nan, as well as two older brothers, Deng Pufang and Deng Zhifang. Within the family, she was known as Mao Mao.{{Rp|page=38}}

Deng stated in an interview in 2004 that her father never spoke of official business at home and that her siblings and herself had no idea what Deng Xiaoping did at work, even though several guards stood sentry in their courtyard home.

During one of the most severe flooding incidents in Henan in August 1975, Li Xiannian called Deng Xiaoping to inform him that several dams had burst. Deng Rong answered the phone and refused to allow Li to speak with her father. In the first call, she said that Deng Xiaoping was sleeping; on the second call, she hung up. The paramount leader was allegedly playing Mahjong at the time.{{cite web|title=Deng Xiaoping da majiang bu li Henan gaoji 鄧小平打麻將不理河南告急 [Deng Xiaoping plays mahjong while ignoring a state of emergency in Henan]|last1=Shi 石|first1=Lei 磊|url=http://www.open.com.hk/content.php?id=388|publisher=OPEN|date=27 August 2011|accessdate=16 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820003751/http://www.open.com.hk/content.php?id=388|archive-date=20 August 2014|url-status=live}} This was one of the reasons Deng Xiaoping was criticized for delaying rescue operations.{{rs|date=May 2025}}

=Killing of Bian Zhongyun=

While enrolled at the Girls' Middle School in Beijing during the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, Deng was a prominent student leader of the Red Guards.{{cite book |last1=Zhang |first1=Joshua |last2=Wright |first2=James D. |date=2018 |title=Violence, Periodization and Definition of the Cultural Revolution. A Case Study of Two Deaths by the Red Guards |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |page=46 |isbn=9789004360464}}{{cite web |last=Lorenz |first=Andreas |date=15 May 2007 |title=The Chinese Cultural Revolution. Remembering Mao's Victims |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-chinese-cultural-revolution-remembering-mao-s-victims-a-483023.html |website=Der Spiegel |access-date=28 March 2025}} The Middle School teacher Bian Zhongyun was beaten to death by Red Guards in the summer of 1966, making her an early victim of the Cultural Revolution. Shortly after the killing, Deng Rong tried to pressure a hospital into carrying out an autopsy and producing a death certificate stating that Bian died from a heart attack. The hospital finally issued a certificate that listed the death cause as "Unknown". The books Deng later wrote make no mention of the killing of Bian or her own role in it.{{cite book |last=Wang |first=Youqin |author-link=Wang Youqin |date=2023 |title=Victims of the Cultural Revolution. Testimonies of China's Tragedy |location=London |publisher=Oneworld |page=221 |isbn=9780861542956}}

Career

When the People's Republic of China and United States established diplomatic relations in 1979, Deng was sent by her father to the Chinese Embassy in the US. She worked there for two years.

From 1984 to 1990, Deng held the official position of Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the General Office of the National People's Congress.{{cite web|title=Deng Rong 邓榕|url=http://www.caifc.org.cn/content.aspx?id=514|publisher=China Association for International Friendly Contact|date=31 May 2016|accessdate=15 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116174150/http://www.caifc.org.cn/content.aspx?id=514|archive-date=16 January 2017|url-status=dead}} She also served as Deng Xiaoping's confidential secretary from early 1989. Since 1990, she has served as the vice president of the China Association for International Friendly Contact.{{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/933971/the-intricate-ties-between-the-woman-who-paid-16-million-for-trumps-condo-and-chinas-power-elite/|title=An intricate web ties the woman who paid $16 million for Trump's condo to China's power elite|last=Huang|first=Zheping|date=16 March 2017|website=Quartz|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206042952/https://qz.com/933971/the-intricate-ties-between-the-woman-who-paid-16-million-for-trumps-condo-and-chinas-power-elite/|archive-date=6 December 2019|access-date=6 December 2019}}

In 1992, Deng accompanied her father on his southern tour.{{Cite book |last=Chatwin |first=Jonathan |title=The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2024 |isbn=9781350435711}}{{Rp|page=38}} Among Deng Xiaoping's family members on the tour, Deng Rong was the most visibly prominent.{{Rp|page=38}}

Writing

Deng published books titled Deng Xiaoping: My Father ({{zh|c=我的父亲邓小平}}) (1993) and Deng Xiaoping and the Cultural Revolution (2000).{{Rp|page=66}} A once-planned third volume about her father has not been published as of at least 2024.{{Rp|page=66}}

Deng has also given interviews revealing details of her father's personal life and personality.{{cite web |author= |date=20 August 2004 |title=My Father, Deng Xiaoping |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/NM-e/104645.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602213715/http://www.china.org.cn/english/NM-e/104645.htm |archive-date=2 June 2017 |accessdate=15 January 2017 |website=China Internet Information Center |publisher= |translator1=Wang Ruyue |translator2=Yuan Fang |translator3=Li Shen}}

Deng has sued a publisher in Liaoning over the alleged unauthorized publishing of her biographies.{{cite book |last=Kraus |first=Richard Curt |date=2004 |title=The Party and the Arty in China. The New Politics of Culture |location=Lanham |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=129 |isbn=0742527190}}

Awards

60px Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 2005){{cite web|url=https://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/insigniti/158143|title=Deng Sig.ra Rong|newspaper=quirinale.it|date=2005-02-28 |access-date= June 17, 2022}}
60px Order of Friendship (Russia, 1999){{cite web|url=http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/14617|title=Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 13.11.1999 г. № 1508|newspaper=kremlin.ru|date=1999-11-13 |access-date= June 17, 2022}}