In France Deng met many future Chinese leaders: Zhou Enlai, Nie Rongzhen, Cai Hesen, Zhao Shiyan and Li Wenhai. These older Chinese students helped Deng study Marxism. In 1921 he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe. In 1924, he joined the Chinese Communist Party. He became one of the leaders of the Youth League in Europe. In 1926 Deng traveled to the Soviet Union and studied at Moscow Sun Yat-sen University. One of his classmates was Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek.