Word: premier
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...time, via satellite TV transmission, hundreds of thousands of students and sympathizers filled Beijing's Tiananmen Square, demanding greater democratization and an end to nepotism and corruption. On Saturday, May 20, with the government and the Chinese capital paralyzed, the curtain rang down ominously on Act I: Premier Li Peng, a principal target of the demonstrators' wrath, and President Yang Shangkun imposed martial law; troops from the People's Liberation Army (P.L.A.) mustered to enter the city...
...last the curtain fell again, with the disturbing clang of a prison door closing. Li Peng appeared on television for the first time since martial law was declared, receiving -- as if to underscore his legitimacy -- a covey of newly arrived ambassadors. The Premier declared that the soldiers would move into Beijing as soon as the city's residents understood the need to restore order. From all available signs, Deng Xiaoping had cast his lot with the hard- line faction headed by Li. The losers were a more reformist group led by party chief Zhao Ziyang. Diplomatic sources said that Zhao...
...guns and bayonets. Some officers rebelled against what they felt was the ambiguity of their position. In Wuhan district, the military commander, General Chen Zaidao, was ordered to support the local Red Guard faction. He refused and seized as hostages three party officials who were sent to confront him. Premier Zhou Enlai had to negotiate their release...
...arranging an orderly succession. First Liu Shaoqi and then Lin Biao disappointed Mao; Hua Guofeng, his last designated successor, held power after the Chairman's death, from 1976 to 1978. In 1980 Deng put his approved team in place -- Hu Yaobang as party General Secretary and Zhao Ziyang as Premier. Seven years later, Hu was forced from power as a deviationist. Now Deng is purging Zhao and other liberals who were the true believers in his reform program. And this, for China, could be the tragic Act III of its great political drama: by siding with Li's hard-liners...
With the importance of images fading, temporarily at least, there was little in the way of solid analysis. After declaring martial law on nationwide TV, Premier Li Peng was not seen in public for five days; Deng Xiaoping and party leader Zhao Ziyang, the other key players in the power struggle, remained out of sight even longer. During this period of uncertainty, solid information was the scarcest of commodities in China, and wild rumors abounded. There were even reports that Deng was fleeing into retirement in the U.S. Protesters in Shanghai, Xian and Lanzhou staged memorial services for Beijing hunger...