In La Garenne-Colombes Deng met Zhou Enlai, Nie Rongzhen, Cai Hesen, Zhao Shiyan and Li Wenhai. Under the influence of these older Chinese students in France, Deng began to study Marxism and engaged in political dissemination work. In 1921 he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe. In the second half of 1924, he joined the Chinese Communist Party and became one of the leading members of the General Branch of the Youth League in Europe. In 1926 Deng traveled to the Soviet Union and studied at Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, where one of his classmates was Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek.