Chinese reunification (simplified Chinese: 中国统一; traditional Chinese: 中國統一; pinyin: Zhōngguó tǒngyī) refers to the bringing together of all of the territories controlled by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) under a single political entity. After Hong Kong and Macau were reunited with mainland China under the rule of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the only outstanding goal for advocates of Chinese reunification is the unification of mainland China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Taiwan (including Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu Islands). Since 1945, Taiwan has been controlled by the ROC. Before the 1990s^{[citation needed]}, both the PRC and the ROC claimed to be the legal government of the whole of China and Taiwan. Supporters of Chinese reunification believe it would eliminate the competing factions in an unresolved civil war and re-unify China under a single national government.

The idea of Chinese reunification is controversial, as is the term "reunification" itself, with varying and sometimes conflicting definitions. Supporters of unification contend that PRC and ROC are the legacy left from the Chinese Civil War, and that both Taiwan (currently under the administration of the ROC) and mainland China (currently under the administration of the PRC) are parts of China. Many supporters of Taiwanese independence fear that unification would hurt the democratic progress in the ROC; and some contend that Taiwan is not part of China.

Deng Xiaoping (IPA: [tə̂ŋ ɕjɑ̀ʊpʰǐŋ] ( listen); 22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy. While Deng never held office as the head of state, head of government or General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (historically the highest position in Communist China), he nonetheless served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1992. As the core of the second generation leaders Deng shared his power with the two most powerful men after him: Li Xiannian and Chen Yun.

Born into a peasant background in Guang'an, Sichuan, China, Deng studied and worked in France in the 1920s, where he was influenced by Marxism. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1923. Upon his return to China he worked as a political commissar in rural regions and was considered a "revolutionary veteran" of the Long March. Following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Deng worked in Tibet and other southwestern regions to consolidate Communist control. He was also instrumental in China's economic reconstruction following the Great Leap Forward in the early 1960s. His economic policies were at odds with the political ideologies of Chairman Mao Zedong. As a result, he was purged twice during the Cultural Revolution but regained prominence in 1978 by outmaneuvering Mao's chosen successor, Hua Guofeng.