Li Peng was a premier, member of the Standing Committee of Politburo snd Chairman of the National People's Congress.
Background
Li Peng was born in 1928 in a small town near the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province. His father was an early leader in the Chinese Communist Party and a close associate of Zhou Enlai. Li Peng is one of many symbolically adopted sons of the late premier Zhou Enlai and his wife. Li's father, an upper-middle-level Party cadre, was captured and put to death by the Nationalists in 1931.
Education
As a youngster Li went to Hong Kong to live with his mother, who was then a Party member working underground. In 1939 Li returned to wartime Sichuan, his native province. He became a Party member in 1945 and was one of the privileged few to go to the Soviet Union for further training. Li attended the Moscow Power Institute from 1948 to 1954 and graduated with an electrical engineering degree. Li speaks fluent Russian and some English.
Career
Before he became prominent, at the age of fifty-four, Li was in charge of China's hydroelectric and nuclear energy development. Until recently, most of his work had been concerned with the technical aspects of electrical power and hydroelectric development projects in Beijing. He became concurrently the minister for the State Education Commission before he was promoted to the post of one of the five vice-premiers in the State Council in 1983. In the 1985 reshuffle of top echelon leaders, Li was elected to the Politburo. Long before he was appointed as acting premier at the end of the Thirteenth Party Congress in November 1987, Li was considered by many as the likely successor to Zhao Ziyang because of his training, education, and executive experience, in addition to his good connections with the old veterans by virtue of being an adopted son of Zhou Enlai.
When Li was designated in late November 1987 as the acting premier, several questions were raised about his elevation to succeed Zhao at the State Council. These questions or concerns seemed to fall into two major areas. One was his Soviet connection. His training as an engineer at the Moscow Power Institute in the 1950s placed him in the Soviet camp. At an unusual press conference of China's vice-premiers in April 1987, Li defended his position by saying that, “The second question seems to ask whether I favor a pro-Soviet policy. Here I formally declare that I am a member of the Chinese government, and also a new young member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. Fll faithfully carry out the policies of the Central Committee and the government. Thus, it may not be fair to have labeled Li as “pro-Soviet” on the grounds that he received technical training in the Soviet Union. A number of Soviet-trained technocrats have supported Deng Xiaoping and Zhao Ziyang and the reform programs; they have been given important positions in the Party and government.
However, in September 1997 the departure of Qiao Shi from the Politburo made Li Peng the second highest-ranking member in the Politburo's Standing Committee. The arrangement agreed to by the top leaders in their informal meetings in the summer at Beidaihe resort was to promote Li Peng to be the incoming chairman of the NPC at its next session, which convened in the spring of 1998. Thus, Li Peng has survived in spite of his health and his past unpopularity among NPC delegates. By moving Li Peng to the NPC slot, Jiang Zemin and his leadership core have been freed to designate Zhu Rongji as the new premier of the State Council, a position that has been occupied by Li Peng since November 1987.
Under the present top leadership lineup, Li Peng ranks as number two in the hierarchy and outranks Zhu Rongji, the premier for the State Council. Although there is some reduction in Li’s power, he is now chairman of the Standing Committee for the NPC, and he could still wield his influence in promoting the hard-line stance and views.
Membership
12th Central Committee of CCP 1982-1987, 13th Central Committee since 1987. Political Bureau, Standing Committee since 1987. Secretary CCP Central Committee 1985-1987.
Connections
Li Peng is married to Zhu Lin, a deputy manager in "a large firm in the south of China". Li and Zhu have 3 children: Li's elder son, Li Xiaopeng; Li's daughter, Li Xiaolin; and, Li's younger son, Li Xiaoyong. Li Xiaoyong is married to Ye Xiaoyan, the daughter of Communist veteran Ye Ting's second son, Ye Zhengming.
Li's family benefited from Li's high position during the 1980s and 1990s. Two of Li's children, Li Xiaopeng and Li Xiaolin, inherited and ran two of China's electrical monopolies. State-run Chinese media have publicly questioned whether it is in China's long-term interest to preserve the "new class of monopoly state capitalists" that Li's family represents. Li Xiaopeng entered politics in Shanxi province and became its governor in 2012; in 2016 he became Minister of Transport. Li Xiaolin served as chief executive of China Power International Development, before being transferred out in 2016 to a minor executive post at a different power company.