BEIJING (REUTER) - China on Thursday began six days of mourning for paramount leader Deng Xiaoping after an 18-year rule that transformed China from backward Stalinist state to economic powerhouse. He was 92. A letter from the ruling Communist Party, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission to China's 1.2 billion people expressed profound grief at the death of "a great Marxist, a great proletarian revolutionary, statesman, military strategist and diplomat". China's Foreign Ministry announced six days of mourning. The gravel-voiced veteran of military battlefields and backroom political struggles died at 9.00 p.m. (1308 GMT) on Wednesday in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency said. Chinese sources close to the party said doctors performed an emergency tracheotomy to try to save Deng. His career spanned much of the 20th century, from the last emperor to the birth of China as a nuclear power. He swept to power in 1978 after being purged three times and retired only in 1990. He led China from Mao Zedong's ultra-leftist fervour to a nation at its most stable and prosperous, and his influence reigned supreme until his death. He died without achieving one of his dreams -- to be present in Hong Kong when the colony returns to Beijing's sovereignty at midnight on June 30 this year. Deng Xiaoping was an avid bridge player who relished a croissant and a glass of milk, loved playing at the seaside with his grandchildren and did not balk at sending in the army to crush unarmed, rebellious students. Chain-smoking until his fingers were stained brown and fond of keeping a spittoon at his feet in meetings with foreign dignitaries, the diminutive ruler possessed a personality as peppery as the cuisine of his native Sichuan province. Condolences poured in for Deng. U.S. President Bill Clinton said he was saddened to learn of Deng's death, calling him an "extraordinary figure on the world stage over the past two decades". Diplomats said immediate factional struggle was unlikely in the China's internecine political world, because Deng's anointed heir, party chief Jiang Zemin had a firm grip on power. He has already amassed the positions of party chief, state President and head of the armed forces. But Jiang is 70, and will soon have to confront his own succession dilemma. Stock markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were highly volatile on Thursday, contrary to forecasts by market pundits who expected a moderate response to Deng's death. The funeral will be held next Tuesday in Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People, the Funeral Committee announced on Thursday.

Here is a chronology of the major events in China under Deng Xiao-ping:

July 22, 1977 - Deng is elevated to the post of vice-premier in a return from political exile imposed by the Gang of Four during Mao's ultra left-wing 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. August 12, 1978 - Beijing and Tokyo establish diplomatic relations. December 1978 - The Communist Party adopts Deng's platform of market--oriented reforms, opening China to foreign investment and sparking the country's transformation from backward Stalinist state to emerging economic superpower. January 1, 1979 - China and the United States establish diplomatic relations. January 29, 1979 - Deng visits the United States. February 17, 1979 - China invades Vietnam in retaliation for Hanoi's invasion of Cambodia but pulls out three weeks later after being battered by Vietnamese forces. March 29, 1979 - Democracy activist Wei Jingsheng arrested for participation in the ill-fated Democracy Wall movement. Wei is later sentenced to 15 years in jail. November 1980 - Trial of the Gang of Four. Mao's wife Jiang Qing is handed a death sentence, a verdict later commuted to life in prison. December 19, 1984 - China and Britain sign agreement to return the British colony of Hong Kong to Beijing rule at midnight on June 30, 1997. December 1986 - Frustrated students publicly demonstrate against official corruption and inflation touched off by Deng's reforms. January 16, 1987 - Zhao Ziyang takes over post of Communist Party chief after Hu Yaobang is sacked over student protests. October 25, 1987 - Communist Party holds 13th Congress that gives blessing to further economic reform. Deng retires from the Politburo and the Communist Party Central Committee. April 15, 1989 - Students in Beijing and Shanghai take to the streets to mourn the passing of Hu Yaobang, marking the start of the pro-democracy demonstrations centred on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. May 15-18, 1989 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visits China to boost ties. June 3-4, 1989 - People's Liberation Army troops enter Beijing and fire on student-led pro-democracy demonstrators, killing hundreds and leading to China's diplomatic isolation. June 24, 1989 - Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang is oustedfor sympathising with the student protesters. Jiang Zemin plucked from post as Shanghai party secretary to become Deng's chosen successor. January 1992 - Deng embarks on his tour of southern China that puts his stamp of approval on economic reforms that had sputtered after the June 1989 crackdown. February 1994 - Deng makes last public appearance during a tour to Shanghai to mark the Chinese Lunar New Year. He appears frail and faltering. February 19, 1997 - Deng, aged 92, dies in Beijing of respiratory failure linked to the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease.