[Picture: Deng Xiaoping] Deng Xiaoping (August 22, 1904 – February 19, 1997) was a prominent Chinese politician and reformer, and the late leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Deng never held office as the head of state or the head of government, but served as the de facto leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to the early 1990s. He developed "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and Chinese economic reform, also known as the "socialist market economy", and opened China to the global market. Inheriting a China wrought with social and institutional woes left over from the Cultural Revolution and other mass political movements of the Mao era, Deng was the core of the "second generation" Communist Party leadership. Deng is generally credited with developing China into one of the fastest growing economies in the world and vastly raising the standard of living.