Bo Yibo

Bo Yibo
Bo Yibo, aged 38, c. 1946
Vice Chairman of the Central Advisory Commission
In office 1982–1992 Serving with Xu Shiyou, Tan Zhenlin, Li Weihan, Song Renqiong
Leader	Deng Xiaoping Chen Yun
Vice Premier of the PRC
In office 1957–1966
Premier	Zhou Enlai
In office 1979–1982
Premier	Hua Guofeng Zhao Ziyang
Minister of Finance of the PRC
In office 1949–1953
Succeeded by	Deng Xiaoping
Personal details
Born	Bo Shucun (1908-02-17)17 February 1908 Dingxiang County, Shanxi, Qing Empire
Died	15 January 2007(2007-01-15) (aged 98) Beijing, People's Republic of China
Relations	Bo Xiying (eldest daughter) Bo Jieying (second daughter) Bo Xiyong (eldest son) Bo Xilai (second son) Bo Xiaoying (third daughter) Bo Xicheng (third son) Bo Xining (fourth son) Li Wangzhi (grandson) Bo Guagua (grandson)
Alma mater	Central Party School of the Communist Party of China

Bo Yibo (17 February 1908 – 15 January 2007) (in older texts spelled Po I-po) was a Chinese political and military leader. He was one of the most senior political figures in China during the 1980s and 1990s.

After joining the Chinese Communist Party when he was 17, he worked as a Communist Party organizer in his native city of Taiyuan, Shanxi. He was promoted to organize Communist guerrilla movements in northern China from a headquarters in Tianjin in 1928, but he was arrested and imprisoned by Kuomintang police in 1931. In 1936, with the tacit support of the Communist Party, Bo signed an anti-communist confession to secure his release. After his release Bo returned to Shanxi, rejoined the communists, and fought both the Kuomintang and the Japanese Empire in northern China until the Communists completed their unification of mainland China in 1949.

During Bo's career he held successive posts as Communist China's inaugural Minister of Finance, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo, Vice-Premier, chairman of State Economic Commission, and vice-chairman of the party's Central Advisory Commission. Bo was purged in 1966 by the Mao-backed Gang of Four, but he was brought back to power by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, after Mao's death.

Bo was one of a select group of powerful veterans centred on Deng who were informally known as the "Eight Immortals" for their political longevity and for the vast influence they commanded during the 1980s and 1990s. After returning to power Bo supported economic liberalization, but was a moderate conservative politically. He initially supported both Hu Yaobang and the 1989 Tiananmen protesters, but he was eventually persuaded by hardliners to support both Hu's dismissal in 1987 and the use of violence against protesters in 1989. Bo's political involvement declined in the 1990s, but he used his influence to support both Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, and to promote the career of his son, Bo Xilai.