Shenzheners still have deep, vivid memories of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, 10 years after his death.

Deng passed away Feb. 19, 1997, at 93, about four months before Hong Kong's return to China. He was not only the father of China's reform and opening up, but also the creator of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. In a story published yesterday, AFP called Deng "the man who truly awakened the sleeping giant that was China."

Deng will be the subject of the first episode of Shenzhen TV's "Dialog on Reform" program that will begin broadcasting Monday. Long Yongtu, secretary general of Boao Forum, and Chen Xitian, a veteran Shenzhen reporter who wrote an influential report on Deng's tour of southern China in 1992 that kicked off a new round of reforms, will be present at the program. Local newspapers have started publishing special reports in the memory of one of China's iconic leaders.

Evidence that Deng continues to reside in the hearts of Shenzheners is visible on top of Lotus Hill, where a crowd gathers daily in front of his statue erected in 2000. "The statue has become a must-visit place for people coming to Shenzhen," said Hong Ruowang, an engineer with the Lotus Hill Park management office.

The statue faces Hong Kong, to symbolize Deng's dream of seeing the return of the territory from the British.

Now if Deng was alive, he would not only have seen Hong Kong as part of China, but also the growing ties between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The Western Corridor, a major link between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, will open within this year. Other projects will also increase the bond between the two cities.

Shenzhen residents revere for his reform and opening-up policies that led to not only China's emerging economic power but also many rags-to-riches stories in the city.

Zheng Tianliang, 66, from Yangzhou City in East China's Zhejiang Province, said he visits Deng's statue every year. "Without Deng Xiaoping, my family would not have the happy days," Zheng told the Southern Metropolis News.

Zheng was born to a landlord's family. Due to his family background, he did not get any promotion in over 20 years. Deng's reform and opening up policy changed his life. In 1983, he became the vice head of a factory. He opened his own company in 2001.

Born in 1904 to a well-off family of farmers in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Deng was a child of the turbulent days when the Chinese revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty, and he developed an early interest in politics.

After graduating from preparatory school in 1920, Deng boarded a riverboat in his rural hometown at 16, bound for studies in France.

There he encountered the Marxist ideas then spreading across Europe following the Russian revolution and in 1924 joined the Communist Party of China in Paris. Upon returning to China in 1926, he occupied various top Red Army and Party posts.

Deng became general secretary of the CPC in 1956, but during the "Cultural Revolution" of 1966-76 he was decried as a "rightist" and was sent to work as a lowly laborer in the countryside.

Yet after the fall of the "Gang of Four," Deng made a comeback and gradually put China on a track of national modernization and openness.

Editor: Yan