Deng Xiaoping was purged from power twice during the Cultural Revolution — publicly humiliated, sent to work in a tractor factory, and declared a “capitalist roader.” He came back both times, and when he finally took control after Mao’s death, he launched the economic reforms that transformed China from an impoverished Marxist state into the world’s second-largest economy. He also ordered the Tiananmen Square crackdown that killed hundreds or thousands of pro-democracy protesters.

This episode traces Deng from his Sichuan origins through the revolutionary career, the two purges, the economic reforms that lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, and the Tiananmen decision that preserved one-party rule at the cost of human lives.

• Deng’s revolutionary career and his repeated conflicts with Maoist ideology
• The two purges during the Cultural Revolution and the resilience that brought him back
• The economic reforms — special economic zones, market liberalization, and the GDP growth that followed
• Tiananmen Square — the decision to use military force against protesters and its lasting consequences