A national calligraphy show will be launched this August in both Beijing and Hefei, capital of central China's Anhui Province, to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, sources said in Beijing Wednesday.

As one of a series of commemorative activities started in Beijing on Wednesday by the Chinese Association of Calligraphers and the Hefei municipal government, the calligraphy show is to solicit some 1,000 excellent pieces of calligraphic works for display from across the country and from overseas Chinese as well.

The organizer said that other related activities to be launched in August include a big party attended by about 100 leading Chinese calligraphers and a written forum in Deng's hometown in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Shenzhen, a pilot city for China's reform and opening-up in south China's Guangdong Province.

Born in Guang'an August 22, 1904, Deng's greatest gift to modern China was his leadership of the country's reform and opening-up drive starting in 1978, which saw China emerge as the world's most dynamic economy.

He died of illness in Beijing February 19, 1997 at the age of 93.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2004)