Li Peng (Simplified Chinese: 李鹏, Traditional Chinese: 李鵬, Wade-Giles: Li P'eng) (b. October 20, 1928) was the Premier of China between 1987 and 1998, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1998 to 2003 and was second-ranking in the Communist Party of China (CPC) behind Jiang Zemin on the Politburo Standing Committee until 2002. The Premier ( Chinese: 总理 pinyin: zŏnglĭ), sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister, is the Chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China and head of Central Peoples Government. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Zhao Ziyang (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chao Tzu-yang) (October 17, 1919–January 17, 2005) was a politician in the Peoples Republic of China. ... ZhÅ« RóngjÄ« (born October 1, 1928, Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ) is a prominent Chinese politician who served as the Mayor and Party chief in Shanghai between 1987 and 1991, before serving as Vice-Premier and then Premier of the Peoples Republic of China from March 1998 to March... The Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress (NPCSC; Chinese: 全国人民代表大会常务委员会, pinyin: Quánguó Rénmín DàibiÇŽo Dàhuì Chángwù WÄ›iyuánhuì) is a committee of about 150 members of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), which... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Qiao Shi (Chinese: ; Pinyin: Qiáo Shí; Wade-Giles: Chiao Shih; born December 1924) is a politican in the Peoples Republic of China. ... Wu Bangguo Wu Bangguo (Traditional Chinese:吳邦國 , Simplified Chinese: 吴邦国, Hanyu Pinyin: Wú Bāngguó) (born July 1941) is a Chinese politician. ... is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...   (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Cheng-tu), located in southwest China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: SzÅ­4-chuan1; Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province in the central-western China with its capital at Chengdu. ... The Communist Party of China (CPC) (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the countrys constitution. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 正體字/繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字/繁体字) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Premier ( Chinese: 总理 pinyin: zŏnglĭ), sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister, is the Chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China and head of Central Peoples Government. ... The Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress (NPCSC; Chinese: 全国人民代表大会常务委员会, pinyin: Quánguó Rénmín DàibiÇŽo Dàhuì Chángwù WÄ›iyuánhuì) is a committee of about 150 members of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), which... The Great Hall of the People, where the NPC convenes The National Peoples Congress (全国人民代表大会 in Pinyin: Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì, literally Pan-Nation Congress of the Peoples Representatives), abbreviated PNCOTPR, is the highest... The Communist Party of China (CPC) (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the countrys constitution. ... Jiāng Zémín (Traditional Chinese: 江澤民, Simplified Chinese: 江泽民, Hanyu Pinyin: Jiāng Zémín, Wade-Giles: Chiang Tse-min, Cantonese (Jyutping): gong1 zaak6 man4) (born August 17, 1926) was the core of the third generation of Communist Party of China leaders, serving as General Secretary of the Communist... The Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (Chinese: 中国共产党中央政治局常务委员会 pinyin: Zhōngguó GòngchÇŽndÇŽng Zhōngyāng Zhèngzhìjú Chángwù WÄ›iyuánhuì) is a committee whose membership varies between 5 and 9 and includes the top leadership of the Communist Party of China. ...

Concerned about maintaining social and political stability, Li backed the use of force to quash the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and due to his relatively uncharismatic personality, Li became one of the least popular Chinese leaders following the protests. Li promoted a cautious approach towards Chinese economic reform. As Premier, he oversaw a rapidly growing economy, with the GDP rising by almost 10% a year. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly referred to as the Tiananmen Square Massacre,[1] were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labor activists in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) between April 15 and June 4, 1989. ... Economic reforms have triggered internal migrations within China. ...

Personal background

Li was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the son of writer Li Shuoxun, one of the earliest CPC revolutionaries and a revolutionary martyr. Li was orphaned at age three when his father was executed by the Kuomintang. He became the adopted son of Zhou Enlai, perhaps the most revered founder of the PRC only behind Mao Zedong. As a teenager in 1945, Li joined the Chinese Communist Party. Was a Hakka^{[citation needed]} and spoke the Hakka Dialect^{[citation needed]}.   (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Cheng-tu), located in southwest China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: SzÅ­4-chuan1; Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province in the central-western China with its capital at Chengdu. ... The Kuomintang of China (abbreviation KMT) (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chung1-kuo2 Kuo2-min2-tang3) [1], also often translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party, is a political party in the Republic of China, now on Taiwan, and is currently the largest political party in... Zhou Enlai (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chou En-lai) (March 5, 1898 – January 8, 1976), a prominent Communist Party of China leader, was Premier of the Peoples Republic of China from 1949 until his death in January 1976, and Chinas foreign minister from 1949... “Mao” redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hakka is one language in the family of languages known as Chinese. ...

Rise to power

Like other Communist Party cadres of the third generation, Li gained a technical background. In 1941 he began studying at the Institute of Natural Science (the former Beijing Institute of Technology) in Yan'an. In 1948, he was sent to study at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, majoring in hydroelectric engineering. During the period he was chairman of the Chinese Students Association in the Soviet Union. A year later, Zhou Enlai became Premier of the newly declared People's Republic of China, and Li survived the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Because both the Communist Party of China and the Peoples Liberation Army promote according to seniority, it is possible to discern distinct generations of Chinese leadership. ... Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT,北京理工大学) is a university located in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China. ... Yanan (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Yen-an), is a city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province, China. ... Hydroelectricity is electricity produced by hydropower. ... The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution [1] in the Peoples Republic of China was a struggle for power within the Communist Party of China that manifested into wide-scale social, political, and economic chaos, which grew to include large sections of Chinese society and eventually brought the entire country to...

Li advanced politically, becoming deputy minister of the state power industry in 1979 and then minister in 1981. Between 1979 and 1983, he served as vice-minister and minister of Power Industry and secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Power Industry, and vice-minister and deputy secretary of the Party group of the Ministry of Water Resources and Power.

After Li was elected member of the CPC Central Committee at the Twelfth CPC National Congress in 1982, he rose to the Politburo and the Party Secretariat in 1985, and the standing committee of the Politburo in 1987, when he also became acting premier. Beginning in 1983, Li Peng served as vice-premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. Beginning in 1985, he served concurrently as minister in charge of the State Education Commission. The National Congress of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党全国代表大会 Pinyin: Zhōnguó Gòngchǎndǎng Quánguó Dàibiǎo Dàhuì) is a party congress that is held about once every five years. ... The Politburo of the Communist Party of China ( Chinese: 中国共产党中央政治局 pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Zhèngzhìjú) is a group of 19 to 25 people who oversee the Communist Party... The State Council (国务院, pinyin: Guówùyuàn), which is largely synonymous with the Central Peoples Government (中央人民政府), is the chief administrative authority of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

While in this position, political dissent as well as social problems like inflation, urban migration and school overcrowding became a significant problem in China. Li shifted his focus from the day-to-day concerns of the energy, communications and raw materials departments to the forefront of the inter-party debate on the pace of market reforms. While student and intellectuals urged greater reforms, some party elders increasingly feared that the instability opened up by the reforms threatened to undermine their very purpose: economic development, the central focus of Li's career. Individual rights Free speech, free press Soap box, Speakers corner (Hyde Park), blog (weblog) prior restraint, censorship, self-censorship, censor Right to assembly Gay rights, Stonewall Feminism, ERA, equal pay, Title IX Famous political dissenters Gandhi Steve Biko Nelson Mandela Martin Luther King, Jr. ... “Literati” redirects here. ... Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. ...

Premiership

Hu Yaobang, a protégé of Deng Xiaoping and a leading advocate of reform, was blamed for a series of protests and forced to resign as CPC General Secretary in January 1987. Premier Zhao Ziyang was made General Secretary and Li Peng, former Vice Premier and Minister of Electric Power and Water Conservancy, was made Premier of the People's Republic of China. Hu Yaobang (Chinese: 胡耀邦 Pinyin: Hú Yàobāng, Wade-Giles: Hu Yao-pang) (November 20, 1915 – April 15, 1989) was a leader of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Deng Xiaoping   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904 – February 19, 1997) was a prominent Chinese politician and reformer, and the late leader of the Communist Party of China (CCP). ... Zhao Ziyang (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chao Tzu-yang) (October 17, 1919–January 17, 2005) was a politician in the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Premier ( Chinese: 总理 pinyin: zŏnglĭ), sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister, is the Chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China and head of Central Peoples Government. ...

After Zhao became the party General Secretary, his proposal in May 1988 to accelerate price reform led to widespread popular complaints about rampant inflation and gave opponents of rapid reform the opening to call for greater centralization of economic controls and stricter prohibitions against Western influence. This precipitated a political debate, which grew more heated through the winter of 1988-1989. A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions about the production, allocation and consumption of goods and services are planned ahead of time, usually in a centralized fashion, though some proposed systems favour decentralized planning. ...

The death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, coupled with growing economic hardship caused by high inflation, provided the backdrop for the largescale protest movement of 1989 by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. is the 105th day of the year (106th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly referred to as the Tiananmen Square Massacre,[1] were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labor activists in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) between April 15 and June 4, 1989. ... Cities with at least a million inhabitants in 2006 An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. ...

Student demonstrators, taking advantage of the loosening political atmosphere, reacted to a variety of causes of discontent, which they attributed to the slow pace of reform. Li, along with the revolutionary elders who still wielded considerable influence, increasingly came to the opposite conclusion, regretting an excessively rapid pace of change for causing the mood of confusion and frustration rife among college students.

Closer to the revolutionary elders, especially his mentor Chen Yun, Li was more politically orthodox than some of his contemporaries, favoring greater central economic planning and slower economic growth. Although a committed reformer like Deng, Li noted that economic growth and a successful transition to the market rested on social and political stability. Chen Yun (Simplified Chinese: 陈云; Traditional Chinese: 陳雲; Hanyu Pinyin: ) (June 13, 1905 – April 10, 1995) was one of the most influential leaders of the Peoples Republic of China. ... World GDP/capita changed very little for most of human history before the industrial revolution. ...

University students and other citizens in Beijing camped out at Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu's death and to protest against those who would slow reform. Their protests, which grew despite government efforts to contain them, called for an end to official corruption and for defense of freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Protests also spread through many other cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou. These protest were occurring at a time when Communist governments throughout Eastern Europe were collapsing. Conservative PRC leaders were horrified that the Tiananmen protests could topple the government, at a time when, as they argued, political stability was so crucial for economic reforms and modernization. Li was foremost in the stance that the protest was to be put down, by force if necessary, and was instrumental in winning Chairman Deng Xiaoping over to his side. Li declared martial law in Beijing on May 20, 1989. In June, General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, who had opposed Li, was dismissed and confined. The armed forces were sent into Beijing, causing the loss of hundreds of civilian lives. “Peking” redirects here. ... Tiananmen Square as seen from the Tianan Gate Tiananmen Square (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) is the large plaza near the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen (literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. ... World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Blue colors indicate little corruption, red colors indicate much corruption In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse by government officials of their governmental powers for illegitimate... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China (中华人民共和国宪法; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó XiànfÇŽ) is the highest law within the Peoples Republic of China. ... For other uses, see Shanghai (disambiguation). ... Guangzhou is the capital and the sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ... Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange),members of the Warsaw pact (light orange), and other former Communist regimes not aligned with Moscow (lightest orange). ... Ths article deals with conservatism as a political philosophy. ... Deng Xiaoping   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904 – February 19, 1997) was a prominent Chinese politician and reformer, and the late leader of the Communist Party of China (CCP). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... is the 140th day of the year (141st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Zhao Ziyang (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chao Tzu-yang) (October 17, 1919–January 17, 2005) was a politician in the Peoples Republic of China. ... For other uses, see Peoples Liberation Army (disambiguation) The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is the military of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly referred to as the Tiananmen Square Massacre,[1] were a series of demonstrations led by students, intellectuals, and labor activists in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) between April 15 and June 4, 1989. ...

After the Tiananmen crisis, Li was re-elected into the top policy-decision making body, the Politburo Standing Committee at the First Plenary Session of the 15th CPC Central Committee. It was the third time in succession for Li to be elected into the innermost circle of CPC's third generation of collective leadership since 1987. Li with the support of conservatives like Chen Yun initially attempted to roll back some of the market reforms and increase the role of administrative planning. However, in this effort Li was opposed by the provincial governors and by Deng Xiaoping, and Deng's famous trip to the south in 1992 was considered by many to be a rebuke against economic conservatives. A proposal drafted by Li after Tiananmen to reduce the role of markets faced a large amount of opposition from within the government and was dropped. Chen Yun (Simplified Chinese: 陈云; Traditional Chinese: 陳雲; Hanyu Pinyin: ) (June 13, 1905 – April 10, 1995) was one of the most influential leaders of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Deng Xiaoping   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904 – February 19, 1997) was a prominent Chinese politician and reformer, and the late leader of the Communist Party of China (CCP). ...

By 1993, with the reforms speeding up and many elderly conservatives dead or ailing, Li was increasingly isolated. Stresses of the job combined with the political pressures from those favoring accelerating the reforms may have contributed to a heart attack that Li reportedly suffered in late April 1993, after which time many of his responsibilities for economic policy were transferred to his rival and successor as Premier, Zhu Rongji.

During his political career, Li made a number of visits to other countries, contributing to the development of friendship and cooperation between the PRC and other countries.

Chairmanship of the National People's Congress

He remained premier until 1998, when he was constitutionally limited to two terms. Then he was made the chairman of the National People's Congress. He spent much of his time monitoring what he considers his life's work, the Three Gorges Dam. Like many in his generation, the hydraulic engineer, who spent much of his career presiding over a vast and growing power industry, considered himself a builder and a modernizer. The Great Hall of the People, where the NPC convenes The National Peoples Congress (全国人民代表大会 in Pinyin: Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì, literally Pan-Nation Congress of the Peoples Representatives), abbreviated PNCOTPR, is the highest... Three Gorges Dam, downstream side. ...

Legacy

Although retired and in his mid-seventies, Li retains some influence in the PSC. The current Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China member Luo Gan, is considered to be his protégé. Luo Gan (ç½—å¹²) (born July 1935) is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China and Political and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

However, Li is one of the most unpopular politicians in China, mainly for his lack of charisma, image as a hardliner, and role in suppressing the Tiananmen square protests. Some opponents of the regime, especially international human rights groups, dubbed Li "the Butcher of Beijing" for being instrumental in the crackdown, although the amount of influence Li really had in ordering martial law is not exactly known. More critics also partly blamed Li for causing the economic troubles under Zhao's rule in the first place by objecting to proposed reforms so strongly that they were watered down and made inefficient. Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ...

In the immediate aftermath of the Tiananmen protests, Li helped tackle the related problems of inflation and social unrest, taking a role in the austerity program, the tight money policy, price controls on many commodities, higher interest rates and the cutoff of state loans to the private and cooperative sectors, which succeeded in reducing inflation. While Deng and Jiang later loosened these controls when they were no longer necessary, such policies are often viewed as vital for the steady, rapid, and uninterrupted economic growth in the years that followed. In economics, incomes policies are wage and price controls used to fight inflation. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... An interest rate is the price a borrower pays for the use of money he does not own, and the return a lender receives for deferring his consumption, by lending to the borrower. ... For other uses, see Loan (disambiguation). ...

Today the root causes of the student discontent of the 1980s, which contributed to an atmosphere of mass-protest and chaos, have largely subsided. Inflation is low; overcrowding in dormitories is a far less pressing matter; the massive migrations from the countryside to the cities in the 1980s, perhaps the largest-scale human migration in history, are far more orderly; the image of the Communist Party has improved and living standards have generally risen greatly, especially in the booming Pacific coastal cities. The economic success of the years unfolding after the Tiananmen Square protests have perhaps solidified Li's legacy and defended his notion that social stability would be required to ensure a successful transition to a market economy, and this premise is now accepted by the Communist Party. Others say that his push to crush the student protests and oust Zhao from power have set back the argument for political and social reform in China for decades.

Li started two megaprojects when he was the premier, the Three Gorges Dam and Shenzhou Manned Space Program. While the first one is still full of controversies, the second one is usually viewed as success. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Three Gorges Dam, downstream side. ... Shenzhou (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) is a spacecraft from the Peoples Republic of China which first carried a Chinese astronaut into orbit on October 15, 2003. ...

See also

• Politics of the People's Republic of China
• History of the People's Republic of China (1989-2002)
• Premier of the PRC

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Government of the Peoples Republic of China. ... // Recovery in the 1990s After the June 4th Incident, a large number of overseas Chinese students were granted political refuge almost unconditionally by foreign governments. ... The Premier ( Chinese: 总理 pinyin: zŏnglĭ), sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister, is the Chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China and head of Central Peoples Government. ...

External links

• Li Peng lawsuit background
• Li Peng biography @ China Vitae, the web's largest online database of China VIPs