Li Peng

Li Peng
李鹏
Premier of the People's Republic of China
In office 25 March 1988 – 17 March 1998 acting from 24 November 1987
President	Yang Shangkun Jiang Zemin
Vice Premier	Cabinet I (1988–93) Yao Yilin Tian Jiyun Wu Xueqian Zou Jiahua Zhu Rongji Cabinet II (1993–98) Zhu Rongji Zou Jiahua Qian Qichen Li Lanqing Wu Bangguo Jiang Chunyun
Preceded by	Zhao Ziyang
Succeeded by	Zhu Rongji
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
In office 15 March 1998 – 15 March 2003
Preceded by	Qiao Shi
Succeeded by	Wu Bangguo
Member of the 13th, 14th, 15th CPC Politburo Standing Committee
In office 2 November 1987 – 15 November 2002
General Secretary	Zhao Ziyang Jiang Zemin
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China
In office 6 June 1983 – 24 November 1987 Serving with Wan Li, Yao Yilin, Tian Jiyun
Premier	Zhao Ziyang
Member of the National People's Congress
In office 25 March 1988 – 5 March 2003
Constituency	Beijing At-large
Personal details
Born	(1928-10-20) 20 October 1928 (age 88) Shanghai, Republic of China
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	Communist Party of China
Spouse(s)	Zhu Lin
Children	Li Xiaopeng Li Xiaolin Li Xiaoyong
Alma mater	Moscow Power Engineering Institute
Profession	Politician civil engineer

Li Peng
"Li Peng" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese	李鹏
Traditional Chinese	李鵬
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Péng Wade–Giles Li3 P'eng2 IPA [lì pʰə̌ŋ] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Lei5 Paang4 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Lí Pîng

Li Peng (Chinese: 李鹏; pinyin: Lǐ Péng; born 20 October 1928) served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China, between 1987 and 1998, and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, from 1998 to 2003. For much of the 1990s Li was ranked second in the Communist Party of China (CPC) hierarchy behind then Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin. He retained his seat on the CPC Politburo Standing Committee until 2002.

Li was the son of an early Communist revolutionary, but was orphaned as a child when his father was executed by the Kuomintang. After meeting Zhou Enlai in Sichuan Li was raised by Zhou and his wife, Deng Yingchao. Li was trained to be an engineer in the USSR and worked at an important national power company after he returned to China. He escaped the political turmoil of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s due to his political connections and his employment in the company. After Deng Xiaoping became China's leader in the late 1970s, Li took a number of increasingly important and powerful political positions, eventually leading to him becoming premier in 1987.

As Premier, Li was the most visible representative of China's government who backed the use of force to quell the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. During the protests Li used his authority as premier to declare martial law; and, in cooperation with Deng Xiaoping, who was the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, he ordered the June 1989 military crackdown against student pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Li advocated a largely conservative approach to Chinese economic reform, which placed him at odds with General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, who fell out of favour in 1989. After Zhao was removed from office Li promoted a conservative socialist economic agenda, but lost influence to incoming vice-premier Zhu Rongji and was unable to prevent the increasing free-market liberalization of the Chinese economy. During his time in office he was at the helm of the controversial Three Gorges Dam project. He and his family managed a large Chinese power monopoly, which the Chinese government broke up after his term as premier expired.