鄧子恢 17 August 1896 – 10 December 1972
Deng became a strong defender of peasant property rights, he started opposing the radical policies of forced agricultural collectivization pursued by Mao, especially after the Great Leap Forward
He relied on extensive investigations into the rural economy to support legal protection of peasant property rights while advocating against policies involving extreme egalitarianism, by opposing policies such as excessive government grain requisitions, state monopoly of agricultural pricing and the frequent and rapid transfer of property ownership. Deng's proposals inaugurated major agricultural reforms, such as the 'household contract system' (包产到户). In this system, Deng found an efficient means of resolving the recurrent difficulties that were being faced in the management of collective work.
Deng was persecuted by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing and purged from all positions during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Beset with illness and bereft of official protection, Deng died from an accident on 10 December 1972 in Beijing.