Zhao Ziyang

(p. 1919)
Born in 1919 in Henan Province. At age 15 joined a partisan unit. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Civil War (1946-1949) worked in local government.
In 1949 the army, which was sent to conduct a party of Zhao Ziyang, has been relocated to the southern province of Guangdong. In 1965 he was promoted to the leadership of this province, having a high post of First Secretary of the provincial Party Committee. The priorities of its activities was the party construction and agriculture.

During the 'cultural revolution' Zhao was arrested as a 'revisionist' and had to go through the procedure of 're'. However, in an atmosphere of chaos, which resulted in 'Cultural Revolution, Zhao was soon returned to his post (1974).

Meanwhile, the leaders of the coalition, which fought for power with the adherents of 'cultural revolution' (later called 'gang of four'), was put forward by Deng Xiaoping, also a victim of the repression. In Sichuan, Deng's home province, the impact of 'cultural revolution' have been particularly severe, and Dan dispatched Zhao Ziyang. In 1977, after the second rehabilitation of Deng Xiaoping, Zhao became a candidate, and in September 1979 - a member of the Politburo. In February 1980 he was elected a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, in April the same year he received the post of vice-premier of the State Council, PRC. In September 1980 Zhao Ziyang became Prime Minister, succeeding Hua Guofeng. In January 1987, when the Conservatives have left his ally, Hu Yaobang, from his post as Secretary General of CPC Central Committee, Zhao became a contender on this post. On the 13 th Party Congress in October 1987 he was elected General Secretary and Deputy Deng Xiaoping, who was chairman of the Central Military Commission.

With these positions, Zhao Ziyang was forced to allocate more conservative prime minister Li Peng and could no longer continue its policy of liberalization. In May 1989, after the death of Hu Yaobang, students and workers in Beijing, as well as in several other cities in China conducted a massive demonstration in support of democratic reforms. Zhao sympathetic to these performances, however, Deng Xiaoping authorized the use of force. 4 June 1989 the army started a massacre in the streets of Beijing, the country began mass arrests of liberals, after which Zhao was dismissed and removed from the governing bodies of the CPC. He was placed under house arrest, but he was never prosecuted. In 1997, delegates to the 15 th Party Congress, a letter was sent Zhao, in which he urged party leaders to reconsider the attitude of the famous dictum about the crackdown on student demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in 1989. In 1998, he was still under house arrest.