Deng Yingchao

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article contains Chinese text.
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Deng Yingchao with Zhou Enlai, 1954

Deng (right), with Edgar Snow (left) and Zhou approx. 1938.

Deng Yingchao (Chinese: 鄧穎超; February 4, 1904 - July 11, 1992), was the Chairwoman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1983 to 1988 and a member of the Communist Party of China.

[edit] Biography

With ancestry in Guangshan County (光山縣), Henan, she was born Deng Wenshu (鄧文淑) in Nanning, Guangxi. Growing up in the poverty-stricken family, her father died when she was at a young age and her single mother taught and practiced medicine. Deng participated as a team leader in the May Fourth Movement, where she met Zhou Enlai. They married on August 8, 1925 in Tianjin.

Deng and Zhou had no children of their own. However, they adopted several orphans of "revolutionary martyrs", including Li Peng, later a Premier of the People's Republic of China. She promoted the abolition of foot binding imposed on women.

She died in Beijing of illness at the age of 88.

There is a memorial hall dedicated to her and her husband in Tianjin (天津周恩來鄧穎超紀念館).

Sometimes considered one of the Eight Immortals of Communist Party of China^{[citation needed]}.