Li Xiannian

Li Xiannian
李先念
Li in 1954
3rd President of the People's Republic of China
In office 18 June 1983 – 8 April 1988
Premier	Zhao Ziyang Li Peng
Vice President	Ulanhu
Leader	Deng Xiaoping
Preceded by	Liu Shaoqi (as State Chairman) Ye Jianying (as Head of State)
Succeeded by	Yang Shangkun
5th Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
In office 6 April 1988 – 21 June 1992
Preceded by	Deng Yingchao
Succeeded by	Li Ruihuan
Other office held Minister of Finance In office 29 September 1954 – 22 June 1970 Premier Zhou Enlai Preceded by Deng Xiaoping Succeeded by Yin Chengzhen
Member of the National People's Congress
In office 15 September 1954 – 25 March 1988
Constituency	Hubei At-large
Personal details
Born	(1909-06-23)23 June 1909 Hanyu Pinyin	Lǐ Xiānniàn
Wade–Giles	Li Hsien-nien

Li Xiannian (pronounced [lì ɕjɛ́nnjɛ̂n]; 23 June 1909 – 21 June 1992) was a Chinese Communist military and political leader, president of the People's Republic of China from 1983 to 1988 under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping^[3] and then chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1988 until his death. He was a full member of the Politburo from 1956 to 1987, and of its Standing Committee from 1977 to 1987.^[4][5]

Li worked as an apprentice

Born in

After the Communists' victory in China, Li was appointed Governor and Party Secretary of his native

In 1954, Li joined the central leadership in Beijing and became China's Minister of Finance. He was also appointed Vice Premier for the entire period of 1954–1982.

During the

Li was described as an "orthodox" or "Soviet-style" communist and was a firm believer in central planning and sociopolitical conformity, so disliked Deng Xiaoping's more radical economic reform ideas. He had in fact been largely responsible for drafting the short-lived Ten Year Plan of 1978 which attempted to build a Soviet-style economy based around heavy industry and energy production. Li's ideas enjoyed strong support among some sections of the Chinese top leadership; General Yu Qiuli and his "oil clique", for example, fully supported Li.

However, Deng quickly terminated these ideas and instituted his own "go slow" approach that involved gradually allowing the development of light industry and consumer goods.^{[8]: xviii [9]} He also went about assigning government posts to younger men who were followers of his ideas. One of these was Premier Zhao Ziyang, whom Li strongly opposed for being too willing to import Western ideas and move away from a planned economy. According to Zhao, Li "hated me because I was implementing Deng Xiaoping's reforms, but since it was difficult for him to openly oppose Deng, he made me the target of his opposition."^{[8]: xviii–xix}

Presidency

In 1983, after the passing of a new Constitution, Li was appointed President of China at the age of 74. Although according to the 1982 Constitution the role of President was "largely ceremonial", it recognized Li's status as a respected Party elder and a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, and Li himself went on to forcefully use his still very substantial influence to support leftist policies. In 1984, Li met with U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the latter's visit to China, notably discussing the status of Taiwan with the President.^[10] Li visited the United States in July 1985, the first time the head of state of the People's Republic of China made such a visit.

As the decade progressed, Deng Xiaoping, always an opponent of lifetime tenure in office, gradually convinced most of the party elders to retire. Li stepped down as president in 1988 and was succeeded by

Li died on 21 June 1992 at the age of 82, two days shy of his 83rd birthday.[15] His funeral was held on 27 June 1992 and was attended by members of the Politburo Standing Committee. After the service, Li was cremated.^[16]

Awards and honors

• Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 1st Class (Romania, 1984)^[17]

References