1928.10.20.–2019.7.22.
○ Natural causes
The premier who declared martial law in May 1989, called “the butcher of Beijing”; Zhou Enlai’s ward
An engineer who became premier in 1987, declared martial law in Beijing on 20 May 1989, and was the government official held responsible for the military crackdown of 3-4 June.
From Sichuan, he was raised under the protection of Zhou Enlai and his wife after the Nationalists executed his father in 1931. Trained in hydroelectric engineering at the Moscow Power Institute, he rose through the electricity ministry and succeeded Zhao Ziyang as premier in 1987. After the televised dialogue with student representatives collapsed on 18 May 1989 he declared martial law in Beijing on 20 May and was the government’s responsible official for the crackdown of 4 June. As premier he pushed through the Three Gorges Dam, and he chaired the National People’s Congress Standing Committee from 1998 to 2003. He died in 2019.
Also known as: Li P’eng
Activities and affiliations
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1945–
Political and party leadership
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1983–1987
People’s Republic of China state institutionsVice-Premier of the State Council
Government and administration -
1987–1998
People’s Republic of China state institutionsPremier of the State CouncilHeads of state, government and party of China
Political and party leadership -
1998–2003
People’s Republic of China state institutionsChairman, NPC Standing Committee
Legislature and state representation -
People’s Republic of China state institutionsPremier of the State Council, Chairman of the NPC Standing CommitteeMain
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1945Joined the CCP
- 1983–1987Vice-Premier of the State Council
- 1987–1988Acting premier, confirmed as premier the following year
- 1987.11.24–1998.03.17Premier of the State Council
- 1989Advocated martial law and military suppression of the Tiananmen protests
- 1998–2003Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee
Related historical events
- 1976–1992Reform and opening: the Deng Xiaoping eraPlanner who became premier in 1988Made premier with the elders’ backing, he led martial law in 1989 and clashed with Zhu Rongji’s reforms.
- 1978–1979The Sino-Vietnamese WarPremier of ChinaTook part in the Chengdu summit and the 1991 normalisation talks.
- 1989The Tiananmen protests and the crackdown of 4 June 1989Premier who declared martial lawDeclared martial law on 19 May after the dialogue of the 18th collapsed.
Post-Tiananmen austerity and internet control (1989–1998)
Immediately after the June 1989 crackdown, Li Peng took a leading role in a national austerity program meant to slow growth and inflation and re-centralize the economy. It raised taxes on agriculture and export industries, increased salaries in less efficient state-owned industries, imposed price controls on many commodities under a tight monetary policy, and cut off state loans to the private and cooperative sectors. After the fifth plenary session of the 13th Central Committee in November 1989, Li established a State Council Production Commission to coordinate plan implementation. In this period Li held a conservative line in the intra-party debate over the pace of market reform, and in 1988 he had downgraded the role of the System Reform Commission created by Zhao Ziyang. At the same time, speaking on 18 April 1990 at the fifth anniversary of Shanghai Volkswagen, he said that some policies of the economic and technological zones and Special Economic Zones could be applied in Pudong and welcomed future investors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan; the occasion is often described as Pudong's birthday. Abroad, he told the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 1992 that China must further accelerate the pace of reform and opening, and at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit he argued that environmental protection should not cause neglect of economic development and that international environmental cooperation should not infringe on national sovereignty. His premiership also marks the start of Chinese internet control: in 1996 Li signed State Council Order No. 195, the Interim Regulations on the Management of International Networking of Computer Information Networks, one of the earliest measures behind what later became known as the Great Firewall.