"It's really sad he's gone," he said. "We are enjoying the rice he helped us grow. He's the savior of the farmers."

    Without a doubt, Deng was a pragmatic leader with a vision of a modern nation.

    Cai Jinwei, a well-established cinema-photographer, noted that Mao saved China once by founding the People's Republic of China in1949 and overthrowing imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic-capitalism.

    A veteran communist at the age of 79, Cai commented that during Mao's era, however, people were living a simple life, in part because Mao's rigid political ideology dragged the country into numerous political movements. "At the time, you might have money, but you couldn't get what you needed or wanted."

    "Back then," he recalled, having a small plate of peanut on your dinner table was a wild wish. You had to wait till the Spring Festival," he said. "Then you could get a quarter of a kilo with a food coupon from the government."

    In Cai's view, it wasn't until Deng's opening-up policy that the people at large started to believe an affluent life was possible and reachable. He said. "What made Deng great was his innovation, creativity, and honesty."

    When Deng realized the fact that the Soviet-model of socialism, practiced in China for 30 years under Mao, had not improved people's livelihood, he pioneered a new form of socialism, dubbed socialism with Chinese characteristics. Along with this, Deng initiated a series of economic reforms toward socialist market economy.

    Before Deng, many communist or socialist ideologues regarded the market economy as an evil brainchild of capitalism, whereas the planned economy was the correct road to socialism.

    "Deng was a wise man. He didn't care much about -isms, he was happy to use any doctrine, as long as they brought about real benefits to the people. "That's what a good leader should be like," Cai said. "Deng will live forever with the people who have already benefited from and, in the future, will benefit from his legacy."

    The creation of the socialist market economy widened the road for China's development, increasing the responsibility of local authorities, and freeing the entrepreneurial spirit of the citizens, thus allowing a wide variety of small-businesses to flourish.

    Qi Xiaojing, 39, is just one of the millions of people that benefited from Deng's reforms. He had worked for a state-owned bank, and is the owner of five small businesses in one of Beijing's busiest commercial areas.

    He recalled how motivated he felt to have his own business after reading Deng Xiaoping's speeches, published in Beijing Youth Daily after Deng's visit to the country's south in 1992.

    At the time, China's reform and opening-up program were at a crucial juncture. In the tour, Deng delivering a series of speeches aimed to clarify the muddled idea of whether the development of special economic zones was capitalist or socialist in nature.

    Deng's speeches had a profound impact upon Qi. Many people like Qi had quit their jobs in state-owned enterprises, but the idea of jumping ship was strongly opposed by family members. Qi's parents were concerned that state policy might be changed and then he would lose everything, including his decent monthly pay of 2,000 to 3,000 yuan at that time.