Deng went on the Long March with Mao. During the Japanese Occupation of China, he joined the Eighth Route Army commanded by Liu Bocheng. After World War II he was part of peace talks between the Communists and the Kuomintang. These talks failed. On 1 October 1949, Deng was at proclamation of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. Deng became mayor of Chongqing and stayed there until 1952. From 1952 until the early 1960s Deng had many powerful positions in government in Beijing. But, he became the target of two political purges: the Cultural Revolution and the Criticize Deng campaign in 1976. Deng said that the Cultural Revolution had been bad for China in 1977 and started the "Beijing Spring." China started to open more in 1978-79. Deng worked to reform the Chinese economy and increase exports during the 1980s. The Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 weakened him. He retired from politics in 1992.