Bo Yibo

Bo Yibo (Chinese: 薄一波; pinyin: Bó Yībō; Wade–Giles: Po2 I1-po1; 17 February 1908 – 15 January 2007) was one of the most senior political figures in China during the 1980s and 1990s. After joining the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when he was 17, he worked as a CCP organizer in Taiyuan, around his native city of Dingxiang, Shanxi. He was promoted to organize CCP 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 CCP, 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 CCP 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 CCP 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 supported both Hu Yaobang's dismissal in 1987 and the use of violence against protesters in 1989. Bo's political involvement declined in the 1993, but he used his influence to support both Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, and to promote the career of his son, Bo Xilai. He was...