Bao Tong

Bao Tong
Bao Tong at his Beijing home in 2008
Traditional Chinese	鮑彤
Simplified Chinese	鲍彤
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bào Tóng

Bao Tong (born November 1932 in Haining, Zhejiang) was former Director of the Office of Political Reform of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Policy Secretary of Zhao Ziyang, Chinese Premier from 1980 to 1987 and CPC General Secretary from 1987 to 1989. He was also Director of the Drafting Committee for the CPC 13th Party Congresses, known for its strong support for market reform and opening up under Deng Xiaoping. Prior to this, he was a committee member and then Deputy Director of the Chinese State Commission for Economic Reform.

Bao was born in Haining, Zhejiang Province, but grew up in Shanghai. He currently lives in Beijing, where he lives with his wife, Jiang Zongcao, his daughter Bao Jian, and granddaughter Bao Yangyang. He has a son, Bao Pu, who resides abroad.

Bao was Director of the Office of Political Reform of the CPC Central Committee and the Policy Secretary of Zhao Ziyang, Chinese Premier from 1980 to 1987 and CPC General Secretary from 1987 to 1989. He was also Director of the Drafting Committee for the CPC 13th Party Congresses, prior to which he was a committee member and then Deputy Director of the Chinese State Commission for Economic Reform.

On May 28, 1989, he was arrested in Beijing just before the crushing of the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Zhao Ziyang had resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in protest when Deng Xiaoping made the decision to crack down on the students. Bao Tong was a close associate of Zhao and the writer of his speeches and editorials supporting a democratic and legal approach to the student movement. Zhao was held under house arrest for the rest of his life, while Bao Tong was officially charged with "revealing state secrets and counter-revolutionary propagandizing", the highest government official to be charged in relation to the 1989 movement. He was publicly convicted in 1992 in a brief show trial and sentenced to 7 seven years' imprisonment with 2 years deprivation of political rights. He served his full sentence in isolation at Qincheng Prison.