He was posthumously awarded the position of taizi shaobao (Tutor to the Crown Prince) by the Qing government and honoured as a hero in the Shrine of Loyalty in Beijing.

In the following year, Deng was promoted to serve as the guandai (管帶; equivalent to Captain) of the gunboat Haidongyun (海東雲).

In May 1874, when the Japanese invaded Taiwan, Deng was ordered to lead Qing forces to reinforce the defences at Keelung and the Pescadores.

In 1880, Deng was transferred to the Beiyang Fleet and sent to Britain to receive and escort the cruiser Yangwei back to China.

The Japanese cruisers circled the Zhiyuan, firing at a more rapid pace and scoring more hits than the poorly trained Chinese gunners with their obsolete cannons.

They were worried that other captains might try to emulate Deng and be only too willing to give up their lives easily, hence they produced a legal instrument, the Naval Constitution on Punishing Evil and Encouraging Goodness (海軍懲勸章程), to pardon the sailors who lost their ships in battle.

His third son, Deng Haoqian (鄧浩乾), who was born after his death, served in the Republic of China Navy and died in 1969 in Wuxi.

In 1996, the People's Liberation Army Navy named its Type 0891A training ship Shichang after Deng to commemorate him.