Deng Xiaoping’s grandson promoted to party chief in regional township

The grandson of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping has become the highest ranking official in a township in Guangxi, a local newspaper has reported.

Deng Zhuodi, the only child of Deng Xiaoping’s younger son Deng Zhifang, was named the party chief of Xin’an, a township administrated by Pingguo county, where he also worked as a deputy head of the local government.

The county has a population of over half a million and is a two hour drive northwest of Nanning, the capital of the autonomous region.

Deng’s new appointment came to light as the Henan Business Herald, a popular business newspaper in Henan, on Tuesday reprinted a report on his visit to an impoverished village in May.

Deng worked as a low ranking village chief in a small village for three days, the paper cited the local official newspaper Youjiang Daily as reporting.

“Only after working as a village chief for a couple of days did I realise how hard it was to live and work in the rural areas… A lot of problems would be solved if officials could put themselves in the shoes of the public,” Deng said according to the report.

He was appointed to work in Xin’an in January, shortly after the party chief of Guangxi, Peng Qinghua, visited Pingguo, Henan Business Herald reported on Tuesday.