INDEPTH: CHINA
Zhao timeline
CBC News Online | March 10, 2005
Zhao Ziyang in Washington, D.C., January 1984. (AP Photo)
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Zhao Ziyang, former premier and head of China's Communist party, died Jan. 17, 2005. In the days following his death, the Chinese government struggled with how, or whether, to commemorate Zhao's life. Initial reports of his death were not carried on state-run media, so the news spread mainly over the internet, on message boards and through e-mail.
Chinese officials agreed to hold a memorial on Jan. 29, 2005, only after veteran members of the party criticized the government for its refusal to hold a state funeral. The government was concerned that such a public memorial might stir unrest.
A timeline of Zhao Ziyang's life:
1919: Zhao Ziyang is born in Henan province.
1932: Joins the Communist Youth League, the school for the Communist party.
1937-1949: Zhao works as a Communist party official during the Second World War and the end of the Chinese civil war.
1951: As a member of the Communist party in Guangdong province, Zhao introduces agricultural reforms, including disbanding the commune system and returning private land to peasants.
1965: Zhao becomes secretary of the party in Guangdong.
1967: Zhao is dismissed as leader of the party in Guangdong during the Cultural Revolution because of his support of President Liu Shaoqi. He would spend four years in forced labour at a factory.
1973: Zhao is invited back to the party by China's first premier, Zhou Enlai.
1975: Zhao is appointed as party secretary in China's largest province, Sichaun. He introduces capitalist reforms that increase the province's industrial and agricultural production.
1977: Deng Xiaoping, an elder in the party, appoints Zhao as an alternate member of the Politburo, a group of about 20 people who oversee the party.
1979: Zhao is made a permanent member of the Politburo.
1980: Zhao is appointed premier of the People's Republic of China to replace Mao Zedong's designated successor, Hua Guofeng. As premier, Zhao brings many of the same reforms introduced in Sichaun to the rest of the China, increasing agricultural and industrial production, but also causing inflation.
1982: Zhao joins the Politburo Standing Committee, made up of the six most powerful members of the Communist party.
1987: General Secretary Hu Yaobang, a reformist, is forced out of office by senior party members for being too lenient with student protesters. Zhao is named general secretary of the party in his place. During his tenure, many limitations on freedom of speech and freedom of press are relaxed.
1989: A protest movement begins to gain strength, culminating in the Tiananmen Square protests. Zhao addresses the protesters on May 19, saying "I have come too late." He tearfully begs students to leave the square of face retaliation. Martial law is declared a day later. Zhao is stripped of all his positions. After the massacre in Tiananmen Square, Zhao is placed under house arrest.
1990s: During his house arrest, Zhao remains under tight supervision. Twice, he would write letters to the government demanding an investigation into the events in Tiananmen Square. Neither letter would be published in China.
2004: Zhao has a pneumonia attack and is hospitalized for three weeks.
2005: Zhao suffers multiple strokes and falls into a coma. He dies on Jan. 17 in a Beijing hospital. Zhao's death is not mentioned on state-run television and radio programs. Newspapers carry only a brief obituary. A public commemoration is held in Hong Kong's Victoria Park, a site used for memorials to the victims of Tiananmen Square. Members of the Communist party urge the country's leader to hold a formal memorial service for Zhao. Chinese officials hold a memorial, but not a state funeral, for Zhao on Jan. 29.
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Background on the pre-existing tension between China and Japan from The Hour.
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