Ezra Vogel's Deng Xiaoping biography hits bookstores

The Chinese version of "Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China", a widely acclaimed biography by Harvard professor Ezra Vogel, has been published on the Chinese mainland.

The book comprehensively describes Deng's life and the path of China's reform and opening up, according to a statement Thursday by SDX Joint Publishing Company, publisher of the book's mainland edition.

Another Chinese version of the biography has been published in Hong Kong by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The book, which took Vogel ten years to complete, portrays a transforming China from the perspective of Deng, focusing on the era after the inception of the country's lengthy reform and opening-up drive.

Its English version has been awarded the Lionel Gelber Prize.

Li Xin, SDX editor-in-chief, said the book is of great academic and cultural value.

"The book can help readers better understand the path of China's development and the history and current situation of the reform and opening up," Li said.

The book is positive about Deng's life and the reform and progress of China over the last three decades. It reveals the author's efforts to bring China to the world, Li said.

It will also introduce some fresh ideas and interpret relevant history to readers, Li added.

Vogel, 82, is a well-known expert on China, working as the director of Harvard's East Asian Research Center from 1972 to 1977. He speaks fluent Chinese and has written many books on China, as well as other east Asian countries.

His book, "Canton Under Communism," is also available in China.