A protégé of the Chinese Old Guard Li Peng became premier of the People's Republic of China in 1989, Li Peng (born 1928) presided over the massacre in Tiananmen Square two months later.

Li Peng was born in 1928 at Chengtu, Szechwan Province. His father, the writer Li Shouxun, took part in the August 1 Nanchang Uprising against the Kuomintang (KMT) authorities in 1927 and was arrested and executed in Haikou, Guangdong Province, in 1930. In 1938 Li Peng was adopted by his father's friends Chou Enlai (the first premier of the People's Republic of China [PRC]) and Chou's wife, Deng Yingchao. He lived in the liaison office of the 8th Route Army in Chongqing with Chou En-lai and Deng Yingchao for about two years. Then he was sent to study at Yanan Institute of Natural Sciences in 1941 and at the Moscow Power Institute in 1948.

Early Career

After his return to China...