Li Keqiang, China’s former premier under President Xi Jinping, has died aged 68.
Li had a sudden heart attack and died in Shanghai in the early hours on Friday morning, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.
“Comrade Li Keqiang, while resting in Shanghai in recent days, experienced a sudden heart attack on Oct. 26 and after all-out efforts to revive him failed, died in Shanghai at ten minutes past midnight on Oct. 27,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Who was Li Keqiang?
Li Keqiang was a Chinese economist and politician, who served as the premier of the People’s Republic of China from 2013 to 2023.
He was also the second-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2012 to 2022.
Li was a major part of the “fifth generation of Chinese leadership” along with Xi Jinping, the CCP general secretary.
Born in Hefei, Anhui province in 1955, Li initially rose through the ranks of Chinese politics through his involvement in the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), serving as its first secretary from 1993 to 1998.
From 1998 to 2004, Li served as the governor of Henan and the province’s party secretary.
From 2004 to 2007 he served as the Party Secretary of Liaoning, the top political office in the province.
From 2008 to 2013, Li served as the first-ranked vice premier under then-premier Wen Jiabao, overseeing a broad portfolio which included economic development, price controls, finance, climate change, and macroeconomic management.
Initially seen as a candidate for becoming the paramount leader, Li instead assumed the post of premier in 2013, and facilitated the Chinese government’s shifting of priorities from export-led growth to a greater focus on internal consumption.
During his term Li headed the State Council and was one of the leading figures behind China’s Financial and Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, National Security and Deepening Reforms.
Additionally, Li and his cabinet initiated the Made in China 2025 strategic plan in May 2015. He was succeeded as premier by Li Qiang in March 2023.
Given his Youth League experience, Li was generally considered a political ally of former leader Hu Jintao and a member of the Tuanpai faction.
Economically seen as advocating reform and liberalization, Li has been described as representing the more pragmatic and technocratic side of China’s leadership.
There has been speculation[by whom?] that Li may have been sidelined by Xi Jinping for reasons of power consolidation.
Li Keqiang was born on 1 July 1955 in Hefei, Anhui province. His father was a local official in Anhui.
Li graduated from Hefei No.8 Senior High School in 1974, during the Cultural Revolution, and was sent for rural labour in Fengyang County, Anhui, where he eventually joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1976 and made his way in becoming the party head of the local production team.
He was awarded the honor of Outstanding Individual in the Study of Mao Zedong Thought during this time
Li refused his father’s offer of grooming him for the local county’s party leadership and entered Peking University Law School, where he became the president of the university’s student council and later received a Bachelor of Laws in 1982.
After working for about six years, he returned to Peking University for graduate studies in 1988. He received a Master of Economics and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Peking University in 1995.
His doctoral advisor was the prominent economist Li Yining (no relation). At the invitation of Li Yining, Li Keqiang’s doctoral dissertation review committee was composed of well-known Chinese economists and researchers.
Because of the high academic rigor of the committee, Li Keqiang postponed the defense of his dissertation by half a year.
Commented as being able to “withstand any kind of inspection” by his doctoral advisor, Li Keqiang’s doctoral dissertation, “On the ternary structure of Chinese economy,” published in 1991, was awarded the Sun Yefang Prize, China’s highest prize in economics, in 1996.
In 1982, Li became the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) secretary at Peking University.
He entered the top leadership of the national organization of the CYLC in 1983 as a member of its secretariat, and worked closely with former Party general secretary Hu Jintao, who also rose through the ranks of the CYLC, ever since.
Li became the organization’s first secretary in 1993 and served until 1998. In 1993, Li proposed the CYLC’s Youth Volunteers Operation, which recruits and channels volunteers intro educational, social, and environmental projects.
It is regarded as an important achievement of his tenure as CYLC first secretary. Li was a representative member of the first generation to have risen from the CYLC leadership.
Li is survived by his wife Cheng Hong, a professor of English, and their daughter.
About Li Keqiang wife and daughter
Who was Li Keqiang married to?
Li Keqiang was married to Cheng Hong,
They got married in 1983 and have one daughter who studied in the United States.
Who is Cheng Hong?
Cheng Hong is the wife of Li Keqiang, the former premier of China. She is also a professor and scholar of American literature.
She was born in Zhengzhou, Henan, in 1957. She studied at the PLA College of Foreign Languages and Tsinghua University, where she met Li Keqiang.
Cheng Hong is an expert in American nature writing and naturalism. She has translated several books from English to Chinese, such as The Singing Wilderness and The Outermost House.
She is also a member of the academic committee of Brown University’s China Initiative. She has published many papers and books on American literature and culture.
Cheng Hong is a respected figure in the academic field and a supportive spouse to Li Keqiang.
She rarely appears in public, but she has accompanied Li Keqiang on some official visits abroad. She is known for her elegance and intelligence.
About Li Keqiang daughter
Li Keqiang and Cheng Hong’s daughter, born in the 1980s, remains enigmatic, deliberately maintaining a low profile despite her prominent parentage.
While her identity is not widely known, her educational endeavors led her to the United States, indicating a pursuit of knowledge beyond borders.
She studied at Peking University and later at Harvard University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 2014.
She is also a talented pianist and a chess player. Li Keqiang was very proud of her and often praised her achievements.
She has made few public appearances with her parents, but she did join them on some official visits abroad. She is known for her elegance and intelligence.
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