Deng Xiaoping

Written by his youngest daughter (Deng Xiaoping has three daughters and two sons), this biography of the 90-year-old Chinese leader is worthwhile for the basic information it provides about his life from his birth in 1904 to the founding of Communist China in 1949 (the period from his 45th year to the present is only briefly summarized), but Western readers will grow impatient with Deng Maomao's adoring praise of a man she considers flawless. In prose that often reads as though written by a propaganda committee (one suspects that the sections on Party history were, judging by the abrupt changes in style), Deng Maomao applauds Deng Xiaoping's exemplary behavior as a child in Sichuan Province, his experiences in France in a work-study program, his contributions as editor of Red Star and political commissar during the anti-Japanese and civil wars of the 1930s and '40s. The names of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai are evoked often, but readers learn little that is new about them; and much of what is revealed about Deng Xiaoping himself is trivial (e.g., he enjoyed watching soccer matches in France and ``loved his children''). The essential speciousness of the book is clearest in the description of the Chinese Army's rape of Tibet as a peaceful liberation in which Tibetan culture was protected and respected. Photos. (Feb.)