Franz Schurmann is the author of several books on contemporary China and former head of U.C. Berkeley's Center for Chinese Studies

In China, to be General Secretary of the Communist Party was to be at the pinnacle of power.

But when General Secretary Deng Xiaoping crossed Mao Zedong in 1967 he was sent to the country side, where he cleaned village latrines. Then, some six years later, he reappeared and was photographed sitting to the right of Chairman Mao.

To understand the dramatic fall and rise of Deng Xiaoping it may be best to look at history -- and to remember that people in China, young, old or in between , know an astonishing amount about their country's history. And the most astonishing aspect of that history is the fact that Imperial China lasted, through repeated ups and downs, from 246 B.C. until 1911 A.D. -- 2157 years!

It survived for so long because the Chinese -- then and now -- are survivors.

Mao brought Deng back from the country because Mao had become completely disillusioned with those through whom he had launched his Cultural Revolution -- and because Deng had shown, above all else, that he was a survivor.

Mao has often been photographed sitting in a study lined with classic books. Chinese did not care whether he studied these books or not. What matters was that those books spoke of China's long survival.

In 1979, three years after Mao's death, Deng made two bold moves. He concluded what was in effect an alliance with the United States aimed at a hostile Soviet Union. And he began a program of agricultural reforms -- in effect bringing back family farming. The result was a dramatic upswing in food production which led to a third bold move as Deng opened the way for a market economy in cities and opened the doors to foreign investment and presence.

The result has been an era of astonishing prosperity, stability and hope.

Deng's image is tainted for many in the West by his role in the June, 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square. Deng himself declared he gave the order to crush the protest. But this act reflected a confidence which is again best explained by looking at history.

Deng comes from Sichuan, a province overwhelmingly rural and poor. The Chinese Army is still drawn mainly from such people, and Deng knew that they saw him -- as they saw Mao and before him Chiang Kai Shek -- as the emperor. For them, Imperial China did not end in 1911.

On June 4, 1989, China's modernizing economy was still very shaky. Many Chinese -- in China and elsewhere, of all political persuasions -- believe the country did not collapse because Deng crushed the protest and cite the country's present condition as proof.

The course of history is always unpredictable. But there is one rock hard fact about Deng Xiaoping and the China he helped fashion. After more than a century of degradation, China now radiates an allure of greatness that recalls the beginnings of its great dynasties of the past.