Li Peng

Li Peng was premier of China from 1987 to 1998, and the official most closely identified with the decision to clear Tiananmen Square by force. He was the son of a Communist writer executed by the Nationalists in 1931, and was raised from boyhood by Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao, which gave him a standing in the party that his abilities alone would not have. He trained as a hydroelectric engineer in Moscow and rose through the power ministry. In the spring of 1989 he took the hard line against the student demonstrations, met their representatives on television in a confrontation that went badly for him, and it was Li who announced martial law in Beijing on 20 May. The army moved on the night of 3 June. The death toll has never been established and estimates run from several hundred to several thousand. He was reviled for it and never publicly expressed regret, maintaining that the decision saved China from chaos. He also drove the Three Gorges Dam through against unusually open opposition, including the largest number of abstentions ever recorded in the National People's Congress, and it displaced well over a million people. He served two terms as premier and then five years as head of the legislature. His death in 2019 was announced in a brief notice. He was widely known as the Butcher of Beijing outside China, and inside it his name was largely unmentionable in connection with 1989. A memoir he wrote defending his conduct was blocked from publication in China and appeared in Hong Kong. His children held senior positions in the state power industry he had once run, which drew persistent comment.

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