by Adi Ignatius
GUO LUOJI (1932–) was a prominent liberal scholar who in 1979 published an article in the People’s Daily arguing that citizens should be allowed to debate political affairs. Deng Xiaoping took it as a personal insult and a criticism of his jailing of dissident Wei Jingsheng.
HAO JIANXIU (1935–) was deputy director of the State Planning Commission from 1987 to 1998.
HE DONGCHANG (1923–) was vice president of Tsinghua University from 1978 to 1982, Minister of Education from 1982 to 1985, and Vice Minister of the State Education Commission from 1985 to 1992. In 1989, his role in presenting the student protests as a cause for alarm played into the agenda of the hard-liners.
HE YIRAN (1918–) was vice chairman of the regional government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from 1979 to 1983.
HU JIWEI (1916–) was a senior journalist and chief editor of the People’s Daily. Known as one of the leading advocates within the Communist Party for media freedom, Hu opposed the military crackdown on Tiananmen protesters in 1989 and was subsequently stripped of all official positions.
HU QIAOMU (1912–92) was Mao’s secretary from 1941 to 1966. Hu was one of the most prominent defenders of Maoist doctrine in the era of reform. He was a member of the Politburo from 1982 to 1987 and a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Advisory Commission from 1987 to 1992. He was also deputy director of the Party Propaganda Department and director of the Party History Research Office.
HU QILI (1929–) was the mayor and Party secretary of Tianjin from 1980 to 1982, and then went to Beijing where he became director of the General Office and a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. In 1987, he was made a Politburo Standing Committee member. In 1989, Hu opposed the military crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters and was ousted from his positions.
HU YAOBANG (1915–89) was Chairman and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1980 to 1987. He reversed the internal Party purges of the Mao years, which earned him respect from Party members and the general public. Viewed by Deng Xiaoping and other Party elders as being too tolerant of the liberal trend among Chinese intellectuals in the late 1980s, Hu was forced to resign as General Secretary in 1987. His sudden death on April 15, 1989, triggered the student protests in Tiananmen Square.
HUA GUOFENG (1921–2008) was Mao’s successor, and served as China’s paramount leader from 1976 to 1980. Hua’s legitimacy was based on having been handpicked by Mao, and he attempted to retain the Chairman’s policies, an effort that was doomed to failure in the post-Mao era. Hua was swept aside by the reform-minded Deng Xiaoping.
JIANG LIU (1922–) was director of Scientific Socialism Studies at the Central Party School of the Central Committee from 1977 to 1987.
JIANG ZEMIN (1926–) was a member of the Politburo and the Communist Party’s secretary of Shanghai. Jiang was promoted to replace Zhao Ziyang as the Party’s General Secretary after the Tiananmen military crackdown in 1989.
KANG SHIEN (1915–95) became Vice Premier and deputy director of the State Planning Commission in 1978. Kang was also the Minister of the Petroleum Industry after 1981.
KIM IL SUNG (1912–94) was the paramount leader of North Korea. Kim was General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and President of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 1948 to 1994.
TSUNG-DAO LEE (1926–) is a Chinese American physicist and a professor at Columbia University. Lee has been well received in China for being one of the few Nobel laureates of Chinese descent.
LEI JIEQIONG (1905–) was a professor at Peking University and chairwoman of the China Association for Promoting Democracy from 1987 to 1997.
LI PENG (1928–) was a Power Industry Minister and a Vice Premier before becoming Premier in 1987 as part of the shuffle that resulted from the ouster of Hu Yaobang. In 1989, as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Li promoted the decision for a military crackdown on the protesters in Tiananmen Square, making him one of the principal characters influencing that course of events.
LI RUI (1917–) was Vice Minister of Water Conservancy and Electric Power and in 1958 became one of Mao Zedong’s political secretaries. Li was expelled from the Party and jailed in 1959 for siding with Peng Dehuai, who had expressed reservations about Mao’s Great Leap Forward campaign. Li’s case was overturned in 1979 and he became Vice Director of the Organization Department. Li was one of the most outspoken supporters of reform, and is known for his series of published recollections and commentaries on Mao.
LI RUIHUAN (1934–) was the Communist Party’s secretary of Tianjin. Li became a member of the Politburo in 1987 and a member of its Standing Committee in June 1989. Li’s membership on the Standing Committee was made possible by the vacancies left by Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili. He was moderately pro-reform.
LI TIEYING (1936–) was a member of the Politburo and director of the State Education Commission from 1988 to 1993.
LI WEIHAN (1896–1984) was Director of the United Front Work Department from 1948 to 1964 and vice chairman of the Central Advisory Commission from 1982 to 1984.
LI XIANNIAN (1909–92) was Vice Premier in charge of economic affairs from 1954 to 1980, and was involved in directing the Mao-style state-controlled economic system. In the post-Mao era, Li viewed many reform policies as having reversed or implicitly criticizing his past work. He served as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee from 1977 to 1987, as President of the People’s Republic of China from 1983 to 1988, and as chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference from 1988 to 1992. Li remained a powerful conservative influence and attempted to block the reversals of Mao’s policies in the economic and political arenas.
LI XIMING (1926–2008) was the Communist Party’s secretary of Beijing. In 1989, Li actively promoted the hard-line approach to the student protests in Tiananmen Square. In 1993, Li became a vice chairman of the National People’s Congress.
LI YIMANG (1903–90) was Deputy Director of the International Liaison Department from 1974 to 1982 and deputy secretary of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission from 1978 to 1982.
LI YONG (1948–) was Zhao Ziyang’s secretary of military affairs from 1985 to 1989 and later became director of the Development Commission of Tianjin.
LI ZHENGTING (1918–) was deputy secretary of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission from 1987 to 1993.
LIANG BUTING (1921–) was the Communist Party secretary of Shandong Province from 1983 to 1988.
LIANG XIANG (1918–98) was the Communist Party secretary of Shenzhen from 1981 to 1995 and the governor of Hainan Province from 1988 to 1989. Liang is recognized as a pioneer in implementing reform in Shenzhen, one of the first designated Special Economic Zones.
LIAO HANSHENG (1911–2006) was a veteran of the army and served as a vice chairman of the National People’s Congress from 1983 to 1993.
LIN TUNG-YEN (1912–2003) was a Chinese American structural engineer and founder of T. Y. Lin International.
LIU BINYAN (1925–2005) was an influential journalist who in the 1980s was a pioneer in exposing serious social problems. Liu was a senior reporter at the People’s Daily from 1979 to 1987 and was exiled to the United States after 1989.
LIU SHAOQI (1898–1969) was one of the founding leaders of the People’s Republic of China. After its establishment, Liu held the most senior position after Mao. Liu disagreed with radical Maoist economic policies, such as the Great Leap Forward and the rural people’s communes. Purged by Mao, Liu died in isolation and humiliation during the Cultural Revolution.
LIU ZHENGWEN (1912–) was vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Anhui Province from 1987 to 1997.
LU DINGYI (1906–96) was a liberal writer within the ranks of the Communist Party. Lu became a vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 1980.
LU KENG (1919–2008) was a prominent journalist in Hong Kong. His interview with Hu Yaobang in 1985 angered Deng Xiaoping and became one of the ke
y reasons behind Deng’s decision to dismiss Hu.
LU ZHICHAO (1933–) was the appointed leader of the Political Group of the Central Committee Secretariat Research Division headed by Hu Qiaomu. Lu also was chief of the Theoretical Studies Bureau of the Department of Propaganda.
MAO ZEDONG (1893–1976) was one of the founders of the People’s Republic of China and the supreme leader of the Chinese Communist Party. During the post–civil war period from 1949 to 1976, Mao’s goal of a rapid transformation to socialism was the nation’s priority. To realize this objective, China created a system of state planning and ownership, and Mao periodically waged mass campaigns to root out opposition both outside and within the Party. After his death, the Party’s reforms reversed Mao’s social and economic programs, but he nonetheless remains the icon of the Chinese revolution.
MENG XIANZHONG (unknown) was an official in the Communist Party’s General Office of the Central Committee in the 1990s.
YASUHIRO NAKASONE (1918–) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister from 1982 to 1987. In that role, he normalized diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
NIE RONGZHEN (1899–1992) was one of ten marshals in the People’s Liberation Army. He served as director of the General Staff Department of the PLA from 1950 to 1954 and as director of the State Science and Technology Commission from 1958 to 1970. Nie was credited for his leadership of the Chinese nuclear weapons and military space programs.
CHRISTOPHER PATTEN (1944–) was the last British governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997. After Hong Kong’s handover to China, Patten served as the European Union Commissioner for foreign relations. He is now the Chancellor of Newcastle University and the University of Oxford. As governor of Hong Kong, Patten attempted to reform the election process of the Hong Kong legislature, an effort for which he was vilified by the Chinese government.
PENG CHONG (1915–) was secretary of the Central Committee Secretariat and a vice chairman of the National People’s Congress in the 1980s.
PENG DEHUAI (1898–1974) was a prominent People’s Liberation Army commander who served as the People’s Republic of China’s first Defense Minister. In 1959, Peng criticized Mao’s Great Leap Forward, which incurred Mao’s wrath. Peng was purged and publicly humiliated. His fate, together with that of Liu Shaoqi, are the primary showcases of Mao’s whim.
PENG ZHEN (1902–97) was an influential Party elder who was chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress from 1983 to 1988.
QIAN LIREN (1924–) was the director of the People’s Daily from 1985 to 1989.
QIAO SHI (1924–) was a member of the Politburo in charge of the security apparatus. Qiao became Vice Premier in 1986 and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee in 1987. In 1989, though he originally agreed with Zhao’s moderate approach to the student movement, Qiao abstained from taking a side at the moment that a decision was made for a military crackdown. He ultimately carried out Deng’s orders.
QIN BENLI (1918–91) was chief editor of the World Economic Herald, an outspoken pro-reform newspaper in Shanghai. Qin published commemorative articles about Hu Yaobang in April 1989 despite Party officials’ warnings not to. He was removed from office by the Communist Party secretary of Shanghai, Jiang Zemin. This highly publicized and controversial event turned out to be an unexpected boon to Jiang’s political career, as just months later, after the Tiananmen crackdown, he was chosen to replace Zhao as General Secretary.
REN ZHONGYI (1914–2005) was the Communist Party’s first secretary of Guangdong Province from 1980 to 1985. He was a leading practitioner of the reform policies in one of China’s most progressive regions.
RUAN CHONGWU (1933–) was Minister of Public Security from 1985 to 1987 and became deputy director of the State Science and Technology Commission soon after Hu Yaobang was forced to resign.
RUI XINGWEN (1927–2005) was the Communist Party’s secretary of Shanghai from 1985 to 1987. Rui was a secretary of the Party’s Central Committee Secretariat from 1987 to 1989 and was an ardent supporter of reform. Rui was removed from his official post for taking a stand sympathetic to the student protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
SONG PING (1917–) was deputy director of the State Planning Commission from 1972 to 1987 and Director of the Organization Department from 1987 to 1989. After the June Fourth incident, he ascended to the Politburo Standing Committee, along with Li Ruihuan, to fill the spots left vacant by Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili.
SONG RENQIONG (1909–2005) was an influential Party elder. He was Director of the Organization Department from 1978 to 1983 and a member of the Politburo from 1982 to 1985.
SU SHAOZHI (1923–) was the director of the Institute of Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences from 1982 to 1987. Accused of having “liberal tendencies,” Su lost his position in 1987 and was exiled after 1989.
SUN CHANGJIANG (1934–) was deputy director of the Theoretical Division of the Central Party School of the Central Committee. Sun was known for his participation in a theoretical debate between Hu Yaobang and Mao’s successor Hua Guofeng. The debate marked the beginning of Deng Xiaoping’s ascendance to his position as paramount leader.
SUN QIMENG (1911–) was one of the founders and chairman of the China National Democratic Construction Association from 1983 to 1997.
TIAN JIYUN (1929–) was Vice Premier from 1983 to 1993 and a member of the Politburo starting in 1987. Tian was an outspoken supporter of reform.
TSIANG SHO-CHIEH (1918–93) was a professor of economics at the University of Rochester and Cornell University, and director of the Chung-Hwa Institute for Economic Research in Taiwan during the 1980s. Tsiang was a promoter of a free market economy.
WAN LI (1916–) was the Communist Party’s first secretary of Anhui Province in 1977. He was known for his early successes with rural land contracts in Anhui. Together with Zhao, who had similar achievements in Sichuan, Wan was instrumental in dismantling Mao’s people’s communes. Wan was a Vice Premier from 1983 to 1988 and a major supporter of reform. He became chairman of the National People’s Congress in 1988.
WANG DAMING (1929–) was Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department from 1986 to 1987 and chairman of the eighth Beijing local Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference from 1993 to 1998.
WANG DAOHAN (1913–2005) became deputy director of the State Import-Export Commission in 1978. In 1980, Wang became the Communist Party’s secretary of Shanghai.
WANG HESHOU (1909–99) was second secretary of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission and was known for his involvement in many of the internal Party cases of great historical significance, including those of Lin Biao, Jiang Qing (Mao’s widow), and Liu Shaoqi.
WANG JIAN (1954–) was a researcher at the Economic Institute of the State Planning Commission. He was known to Chinese scholars for an article published in Economic Daily in 1987 in which he proposed a strategic economic development model that relied heavily on international trade that was later widely perceived as having been adopted by Chinese leaders.
WANG JIKUAN (1931–2007) was a consultant for the State Council’s Center for Economic Technology and Social Development Studies in the 1980s.
WANG MENG (1934–) is a prominent writer. He was the Minister of Culture from 1986 to 1989.
WANG QUANGUO (1919–) was the Communist Party’s deputy secretary of Guangdong Province from 1975 to 1979 and secretary of Hubei Province from 1982 to 1983.
WANG RENZHI (1933–) was the Communist Party’s Director of the Propaganda Department from 1987 to 1992. He had a reputation for siding with Party elders and undermining reform.
WANG RENZHONG (1917–92) was Vice Premier of the State Council. Wang headed the investigation of Zhao in the aftermath of the 1989 events.
WANG RUILIN (1930–) was Deng Xiaoping’s secretary starting in 1952. Wang became director of the General Office of the Central Military Commission when Deng was its
chairman, and later deputy director of the Communist Party’s General Office of the Central Committee.
