Deng Xiaoping

In 1926, a 20-year old man joined the Chinese Communist Party and went on to become one of Mao's most senior lieutenants. With Mao's help, he became the de facto leader of the CCP and was the architect of China's post-Mao reforms two years after Mao's death in 1976. Yet despite his revolutionary rhetoric, Deng abandoned his Maoist socio-economic policies he had once espoused. He started measures that would overhaul China's economy, society, and its status in the world. This powerful man put in motion changes that would globally impact China as well as the lives of more than a billion people. We are still living with the consequences three decades later. China rose to become the second-biggest economy and the world's workshop.