Deng Xiaoping (* August 22, 1904, Guang’an, Sichuan province, China - died February 19, 1997, Beijing), was the most powerful leader figure in the People’s Republic of China from the late 1970s until his death. He abandoned orthodox communist doctrines, incorporated elements of the free-enterprise system and other reforms into the Chinese economy, leaving in place an authoritarian government that remains committed to the one-party rule even while reliying on free-market mechanisms.