Li Rui

Li Rui
李锐
Studio portrait, 1947
Member of the 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
In office
1982–1987
Deputy Head of the Organisation Department of the Chinese Communist Party
In office
1982–1984
Vice Minister of Water Resources
In office
1958–1958
Personal details
Born(1917-04-14)14 April 1917
Pingjiang County, Hunan, China
Died16 February 2019(2019-02-16) (aged 101)
Beijing, China
Resting placeBabaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery
Political partyCCP
Spouses
  • Fan Yuanzhen (范元甄)
    (m. 1939⁠–⁠1944)
    (m. 1945⁠–⁠1962)
  • Zhang Yuzhen (张玉珍)
    (m. 1979)
Children3
Alma materWuhan University
OccupationRevolutionary, politician, historian
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese李銳
Simplified Chinese李锐
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLǐ Ruì
IPA[lì ɻwêɪ]

Li Rui (simplified Chinese: 李锐; traditional Chinese: 李銳; pinyin: Lǐ Ruì; 14 April 1917 – 16 February 2019) was a Chinese politician, historian and dissident Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member.

As a young student activist, Li joined the Communists in 1937 during the Chinese Civil War. By 1958, he had become the vice-minister of the Ministry of Water Resources. His vocal opposition to the proposed Three Gorges Dam brought him to the attention of the Chairman of the CCP, Mao Zedong. Li impressed Mao, who made him his personal secretary for industrial affairs. However, Li was known for his independence of thought, and defied Mao at the 1959 Lushan Conference. Li was expelled from the party and sent to a prison camp, beginning nearly twenty years of political exile. Denounced by his family for anti-Mao activities during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, he spent eight years in solitary confinement at the Qincheng Prison.

After Mao's death, Li's party membership was restored. He regained an influential position in the CCP but, after only a few years, was forced to resign because he was unwilling to favor the children of influential party members. From the mid-1980s, shut out of formal power, Li wrote and commentated extensively, calling for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and democracy within a socialist framework. He also wrote five books on Mao and early Communist Party history. Li remained a party member until his death, respected but isolated; his views were formally denounced and he was censored in the Chinese press. Li died in 2019, aged 101. He was described by The Guardian in 2005 as living a life "filled with rebellions, often at great personal cost, against those who abused their power".[1]

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