Authorizing a Disability Agency in Post-Mao China: Deng Pufang's Story as Biomythography

Although modest in size when compared to China's government ministries, the Disabled Persons' Federation stands out in part because it promotes rights discourses (in a sociopolitical context that external observers often view as bereft of such discourses) and in part because of the reputed speed with which it has grown since its founding. Federation documents state that within six years of its launch, the federation possessed more than 45,000 chapters nationwide and within seven years it had provided over two million citizens with various forms of rehabilitation treatment. Why did this organization emerge? And why has it proliferated so quickly?