DENG XIAOPING'S health has taken a turn for the worse but his medical team does not expect immediate danger.
The Chinese media, however, has been asked to mount a campaign to reassure the public of his relative well-being.
Sources close to family doctors said while the 91-year-old had not been struck by a life-threatening disease, he had lost weight and become 'very frail'.
The doctors reportedly indicated that the sudden weight loss had affected Mr Deng's ability to take his regular medicines for his long-time battle with Parkinson's disease.
A Beijing source said senior cadres at both the national and provincial levels had been informed of Mr Deng's condition.
But, because of the patriarch's special status, the Politburo would not issue an 'emergency health notice' to Central Committee members and other senior officials even if his condition were to deteriorate further.
It is a decades-old practice for the authorities to circulate such notices about party elders and high officials close to death.
