It took Deng Xiaoping's death for Guangan to see that growing rich really is glorious.
The past two years have seen a remarkable transformation in Deng's home town, which until recently languished as one of the poorest places in China even as the country grew wealthy from his economic reforms.
Until his death from Parkinson's disease in 1997 at age 92, Deng insisted that Guangan was not to receive special treatment. Without help from its most famous native son, the city in northern Sichuan had little more going for it other than the peasants who grow corn and pistachio nuts on the surrounding hillsides.
The trickle of tourists who braved the five-hour drive from Chongqing over crumbling mountain roads were often stunned to find the home of the man responsible for China's economic boom had gone bust. As a sign of how bad things were, the local government admitted in 1997 that 2,500 families in the area were without homes or lived in caves.
But times have changed, and so have Guangan's fortunes. The approach of the 100th anniversary of Deng's birth on August 22 has seen billions of yuan poured into a makeover to create a city worthy of his legacy.
'Many of my business friends say it is unbelievable to see what has happened in Guangan,' said Deng Xianyan , the leader's cousin and only immediate family member still living in the area.
