Deng Pufang

Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Template:Infobox officeholder Deng Pufang (Template:Zh) (born 16 April 1944) is a Chinese politician, who is the eldest son of former Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.<ref name="Pearson">Pearson, Veronica. Royal College of Psychiatrists. [1995] (1995). RCPsych Publications. Template:ISBN. p. 88</ref> He is mostly known for being injured during the Cultural Revolution by the Red Guards and becoming a paraplegic. He has since dedicated his life to improving the rights of people with disabilities.<ref name="Tenb">Template:Cite book</ref>

Biography

Deng Pufang was born to Deng Xiaoping<ref name=":05">Template:Cite book</ref> and Zhuo Lin, in Yuntoudi Village, Mataian Town, Liao County, Jinzhong, Shanxi. The name "Pufang" was given to him by Liu Bocheng, in the sense of "purity and squareness".<ref name="l620">Template:Cite book</ref>

As a young boy, he attended the Beijing 13 Middle School. In 1962, he enrolled in the Department of Technical Physics of Peking University and joined the Chinese Communist Party in September 1965.<ref name="v907">Template:Cite book</ref>

During the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and his family were targeted by Mao Zedong. He was branded as a capitalist roader.<ref name="Pearson" /> In one session, he was forced to kneel to the ground with his arm stretched out behind him and over his head. His family watched as the students forced him to confess to capitalist ways of thinking.<ref name="Stewartw">Stewart, Whitney. (2001). Deng Xiaoping: Leader in a Changing China. Twenty-First Century Books. Template:ISBN p. 72</ref><ref name="s517">Template:Cite book</ref>

Mao's Red Guards then imprisoned Deng Pufang. He was tortured and thrown out of the window of a three-story building at Peking University in 1968.<ref name="Pearson" /><ref name="Tenb" /><ref name="Stewartw" /><ref>Template:Cite book International Conference on Disability, Handicap and Policy at Bristol Polytechnic, England, July 1988</ref> His back broken, he was rushed to the hospital, but was denied admission. By the time he reached another clinic, he was paralyzed.<ref name="Stewartw" /> He remains a paraplegic, using a wheelchair.<ref name="Pearson" /><ref name="Tenb" />

With regard to his views on the Cultural Revolution, Deng Pufang once said, "The generation of the Cultural Revolution is in no sense a lost generation, as is often said. Quite to the contrary. All those who passed through that testing have been toughened. These people think a great deal, and have their own ideas. They are firm in their convictions, and show initiative. To my way of thinking this generation represents a trump card for China and for the reforms which they have set in motion."<ref>Libération, 2 September 1985.</ref>

File:Ronald Reagan meeting with Deng Pufang (1987).png

Deng meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the White House (1987)

It was in 1975 that Deng was given the opportunity to work, serving in the Administrative and Economic Management Department of the General Office of the Central Military Commission. In 1984, he established and became a vice president of the China Welfare Fund for the Disabled as a vice-ministerial cadre at the age of 40; the following year, he was promoted to president of the foundation; and since 2006, he has been the president of the foundation. He also founded and became the chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation in 1988.<ref name="Pearson" />

In 1987, he was the prime mover behind a national survey for people with disabilities.<ref name="Pearson" /> Deng also visited the United States to publicize the challenges of disabled people in China and learn about relevant practices in the United States.<ref name=":05" /> In 1990, he led the formation of the Chinese Rehabilitation and Research Association for the Mentally Disabled. In 1991, legislation was passed to recognize mental illness as a disability.<ref name="Pearson" />

He was awarded the United Nations Human Rights Prize in December 2003 for his work in protecting the rights of individuals with disability in China.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2008, at the first session of the Eleventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Deng Pufang was elected Vice Chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.<ref name="f779">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="z499">Template:Cite book</ref> At the Fifth National Congress of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, held in November of the same year, he was elected Honorary Chairman of the Bureau. Deng also helped organize the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the executive president of the Beijing Organizing Committee.<ref>Official Website of the Beijing Olympics Template:Webarchive"</ref>

In September 2023, at the age of 79, Deng Pufang stepped down as Honorary Chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation.<ref name="q803">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="y449">Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights Prizewinner (2003)

External links

• Deng Pufang's Biography