[citation needed] Incidentally, Dong was the only other person than Mao Zedong to be present at both the founding congress of the party and the proclamation ceremony of the People's Republic of China twenty-eight years later.

Upon his return to China in 1932, he became active in the Jiangxi Soviet, where he served as Political Director of the Red Army Academy and President of the Party School.

With previous experience in international diplomacy from his visit to the United States in 1945, Dong was chosen to lead a delegation to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1958, keeping him away from Beijing for two months.

Later the same year, Dong defended Peng Dehuai from criticism at the Lushan Conference, yet still managed to stay in favor with Mao, unlike others who stood up for the reproached general.

Instead, he rose in prominence and public visibility during these tumultuous years, taking over many of the diplomatic and ceremonial responsibilities previously held by the purged Liu Shaoqi.

Historians have attributed this curious fact not to any cunning political maneuvering, but to Dong's special relationship with Mao and their always getting along well, ever since their first meeting at the founding of the Communist Party in 1921.

[5] In the power vacuum that appeared after the fall of Lin Biao, Dong became Acting President of China, serving in that capacity from February 1972 to January 1975.

At that point, the office of president was abolished and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress - then Zhu De - became the formal head of state.