What does 之 mean in 邓小平之所以推动改革开放...?

Question

In the following sentence:

三十年前，邓小平之所以推动改革开放，一来是为了提高人民的生活水平，二来是为了让中国经济从计划经济转变到市场经济。

I found that 邓小平 is a name for a person. But I don't understand what 之 works for here. So what is the meaning of it and how does it function here grammatically?

Also, is it required to use 之 here, or if you omit it, does the sentence change into a different meaning?

Answer 1

所以 means 'because' but it can also be used as a noun for "reason" , as in "不明所以" (don't understand the reason)

邓小平 is a noun, 之=(的), 所以=reason

邓小平(之)所以 = Deng Xiaoping('s) reason (for)

• 推动改革开放 (promote reform and opening up) is the action that the reason resulted in.

• 一来是为了提高人民的生活水平，二来是为了让中国经济从计划经济转变到市场经济。 is the description of the reasons

'之所以' is a common phrase for 'the reason why'; 'therefore' because it is so commonly used in literary form.

Example:

"(The reason why) he resigns" = "他(之所以)辭職"

"(The reason why) he ran away" = "他(之所以)逃跑"

The two examples above must be followed by the description of the reason

Answer 2

In structure 之所以……（结果:result）是因为……（原因: reason）, 之 is used as a conjunction, indicating 因果关系.

Compare the two structures:

1. 之所以……（结果: result）是因为……（原因: reason)

2. 因为……（原因: reason）所以……（结果: result）

Structure 1 states the result first, while structure 2 states reason first. There could be some literary effects for this:

1. when there are more than one reason for the result, structure 1 is often used. This is like OP's example.

2. the context determines whether structure 1 or 2 should be used.