Word: deng
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...week wore on, it appeared that whatever power Deng and his colleagues held came from the guns of the P.L.A. Intelligence specialists believe the army has played a role not only in securing the capital but also in preparing for further repression. One possible goal: to scare off prying foreigners...
...fact, the expected confrontation between military factions never materialized. By the end of the week, 27th Army soldiers who had participated in the Tiananmen assault had decamped and were replaced by fresh troops from other regiments unconnected with the massacre. Only hours after Deng's appearance on TV, long columns of armor left the city. The military maneuvers served mainly to camouflage a deep political conflict. The massacre at Tiananmen may have been just a violent stage in the ongoing struggle of succession, not unlike the turmoil that has occurred throughout Chinese history whenever a dynasty waned...
...past several years the Communist Party has been facing the question of who will ultimately replace Deng. He complicated the problem by purging his own chosen heir, the reform-minded party General Secretary Hu Yaobang, who was relieved of his job in 1987 for not quickly crushing student demonstrations. Hu's replacement as designated successor was Zhao, who now appears to have also fallen victim to Deng's displeasure...
Throughout his years in power, Deng balanced moderate vs. hard-line factions in every organ of the state -- the party, the government, the military. The result was paralysis: important decisions were frequently avoided or ignored. Deng remained the ultimate arbiter, but hobbled by age and his penchant for toughing out dilemmas, he increasingly played off would-be successors against one another, letting their disagreements fester into bureaucratic skirmishing...
...corruption not only confronted the leadership with fundamental questions about China's future direction but also created an opening for political jockeying. According to one theory, Zhao, 69, the leader reputedly most willing to adopt more open politics, took advantage of the situation to ask for greater authority. From Deng, Zhao reportedly sought the power to grant some of the students' demands. Sensing an attempt at a power play, Deng refused...