Deng Xiaoping left Paifang in 1919 when he was 15 years old and never returned, but the village shared his fate for most of the next century.
Through Deng's frequent falls from power in the latter half of the 1900s, Paifang suffered at the hands of his political enemies who were eager to punish anyone and everything associated with him. During the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards terrorised the town and destroyed part of Deng's family estate.
'Many of Deng's relatives in the village were criticised and bullied by Red Guards during that catastrophic campaign,' according to a Xinhua recount of the period.
Deng's political misfortunes caused Paifang to change its name four times to either embrace him or distance itself from him.
In 1958, during the Great Leap Forward, the village called itself Weida Dadui (Great Brigade). In 1962, when Deng was general secretary of the Communist Party, it readopted its old name.
When Deng was purged during the Cultural Revolution, the name was changed to Fanxiu (Anti-Revisionist) Village in condemnation of Deng, who was labelled the No2 revisionist and capitalist roader, after Liu Shaoqi . Paifang took its old name back in 1978 when Deng returned to power.
Even liberal factions took out their frustrations on Deng's birthplace.
