The “core” plucked from Shanghai in 1989 who led post-Tiananmen China into the market economy and the “Three Represents”
The compromise leader plucked from Shanghai after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, he became the "core" of the third generation and steered the party toward a market economy.
An electrical engineer from Jiangsu who trained at a Soviet car plant, he became mayor of Shanghai in 1985 and its party secretary in 1987. In 1989 he closed the liberal World Economic Herald and defused the Shanghai protests without major bloodshed, and in June was chosen to replace Zhao Ziyang as general secretary. After Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour in 1992 he made the “socialist market economy” the party’s goal and oversaw state-enterprise reform, WTO accession and the return of Hong Kong. Stepping down as general secretary in 2002 and Military Commission chairman in 2004, he left the “Three Represents”, which opened the party to private entrepreneurs. He died of leukaemia in 2022.
Career Timeline
- 1989–2002General Secretary of the Central Committee
- 1993–2003President of the People’s Republic of China
Related historical events
- 1976–1992Reform and opening: the Deng Xiaoping eraGeneral secretary who adopted the southern tour lineMade the socialist market economy the goal at the 1992 congress.
- 1989The Tiananmen protests and the crackdown of 4 June 1989The new general secretary chosen from ShanghaiContained the Shanghai protests, closed the World Economic Herald and became general secretary in June.