Type in the name Deng Xiaoping in google.ru, and one could get the impression that the former Chinese leader's name is synonymous with the Russian word for "reform".

Although Deng passed away a decade ago, the Russians apparently still see many parallels between Deng's ideas about opening up and reform and the changes that have taken place in their country.

His name appears in many comments on Russian Internet forums.

For example, one Russian netizen wrote that many Russians still remember when they "did not know what would happen tomorrow" following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

By contrast, in populous China, Deng initiated reform without stirring up social unrest and achieved great success.

Some Russians have even suggested that China might have faced a crisis of "disintegration" if Deng had not been there.

"A politician who connects his personal fate with that of his motherland is a great (politician)," said Sergei Komisalov, a scholar at the Oriental studies at Novosibirsk State University.

And Russia's interest in Deng goes far beyond the Internet. Russian publishers also have a strong interest in the late Chinese leader. Many books on the famous reformer have been released in recent years, among them the Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping and Deng Xiaoping during the "Cultural Revolution".

Smirnov, who has been studying Deng for more than two decades, said more than a dozen of his colleagues at the Far East Institute are researching the life and work of Deng Xiaoping.

And references to Deng's theory of "building socialism with Chinese characteristics" appears frequently in Russian newspapers nowadays.

Deng Xiaoping Street

A small village called Slavino sits some 50 kilometers north of downtown Moscow, near the Dmitrov highway.

A short street, about 7-8 meters wide and 800 meters long runs through it. The street, which is lined with red-brick villas, is named after Deng Xiaoping. It is the world's only Deng Xiaoping Street.

Anton Feodorov, the late and renowned Russian ophthalmologist, suggested that the street be named after the Chinese leader after the Feodorov Center of Ophthalmology opened in the village. The center, a research and technology complex, is also an eye microsurgery center.

A solemn ceremony was held there a little more than two months after Deng passed away.

"(Feodorov named the street after Deng) with the hope that more Russian people would be aware of the great Deng Xiaoping from China. He was very respectful of Deng Xiaoping," said Lyudimila Zubleva, a local resident who worked with Feodorov 28 years ago.

She recalled that Feodorov often told his staff stories about the Chinese leader.

"As a scientist, Feodorov loved to quote Deng's saying: 'Science and technology are the primary productive forces'," Zubleva said.

Many of the people in the village had personal or connections with Feodorov, and many also admired Deng.

Deng's aphorism "practice is the sole criterion of truth" is frequently quoted by local residents.

Deng's link with Russia

Deng first arrived in Moscow from Paris in 1926, when he was 22 years old. Under the name of Dozolov, he studied at the Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow for a year.

After the founding of New China, he visited Moscow several times as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and vice-premier, according to Deng Rong, Deng's daughter.

Russian President Vladimir Putin once said the friendly relations between Russia and China owed much to Deng's farsightedness.

"I can say with utmost confidence that we have achieved much together. Above all, as Deng Xiaoping wisely put it, we were able to 'close old problems', in this case, the settlement of the border question," Putin said on October 15, 2004, during a meeting with Russian regional heads and Chinese provincial leaders in Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/16/2007 page5)