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Covering a vast area of eastern Asia and home to one-fifth of the world's population, China is bordered by 14 countries. Two-thirds of China is uplands: the southwestern mountains include the Tibetan Plateau; in the northwest, the Tien Shan Mountains separate the Tarim and Dzungarian basins. Two-thirds of the population live in the low-lying east. China was dominated by Chairman Mao Zedong from the founding in 1949 of the Communist People's Republic until his death in 1976. Despite the major disasters of the 1950s Great Leap Forward and the 1960s Cultural Revolution, it became an industrial and nuclear power. Today, China is rapidly developing a market-oriented economy. The current leadership remains set on achieving this without political liberalization, instead enforcing single-party rule as was advocated by "elder statesman" Deng Xiaoping, who died in 1997.