Bo Yibo, one of China’s ‘Eight Immortals’

HONG KONG – Bo Yibo, one of China’s last revolutionary elders who came to power with Mao Zedong in 1949 and backed the crackdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square 40 years later, has died.

Bo was 98 when he died in a Beijing hospital late last Monday. He was father of current Commerce Minister Bo Xilai.A veteran of the Long March, the epic 8 000-km retreat that saved the Communist forces from annihilation in China’s civil war, Bo rose to become a finance minister and held a series of top economic posts in Mao’s China.During the Cultural Revolution, he was purged and imprisoned for more than 10 years, but later rehabilitated.Bo was an ally of Deng Xiaoping, who became paramount leader after Mao’s death in the late 1970s and launched China’s economic reforms.In the 1980s and early 1990s, Bo was considered one of the ‘Eight Immortals’ – elderly revolutionaries who remained hugely influential in policy.”He was rather close to Deng Xiaoping and he was really seen as a more conservative elder in support of Deng,” said Joseph Cheng, professor of political science at City University of Hong Kong.In the summer of 1989, he supported the decision to send in the army to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations centred on Tiananmen Square, although he was not as outspoken about it as other elders, Cheng said.Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed on the night of June 3-4 1989, when troops advanced on the square and shot into crowds blocking their way.Analysts say Bo’s son has his father to thank – at least in part – for his elevation up the party ranks.In the wake of the 1989 crackdown, the elder Bo was a supporter of Jiang Zemin, who was plucked from Shanghai to lead the Party and state in Beijing.Some China watchers say he leveraged that support to get his son promoted, although the task wasn’t easy – the younger Bo was rejected from entering the Party’s Central Committee twice, Cheng said.The younger Bo is now a rising star in the Party and many analysts believe he is a potential vice premier.Nampa-ReutersHe was father of current Commerce Minister Bo Xilai.A veteran of the Long March, the epic 8 000-km retreat that saved the Communist forces from annihilation in China’s civil war, Bo rose to become a finance minister and held a series of top economic posts in Mao’s China.During the Cultural Revolution, he was purged and imprisoned for more than 10 years, but later rehabilitated.Bo was an ally of Deng Xiaoping, who became paramount leader after Mao’s death in the late 1970s and launched China’s economic reforms.In the 1980s and early 1990s, Bo was considered one of the ‘Eight Immortals’ – elderly revolutionaries who remained hugely influential in policy.”He was rather close to Deng Xiaoping and he was really seen as a more conservative elder in support of Deng,” said Joseph Cheng, professor of political science at City University of Hong Kong.In the summer of 1989, he supported the decision to send in the army to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations centred on Tiananmen Square, although he was not as outspoken about it as other elders, Cheng said.Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed on the night of June 3-4 1989, when troops advanced on the square and shot into crowds blocking their way.Analysts say Bo’s son has his father to thank – at least in part – for his elevation up the party ranks.In the wake of the 1989 crackdown, the elder Bo was a supporter of Jiang Zemin, who was plucked from Shanghai to lead the Party and state in Beijing.Some China watchers say he leveraged that support to get his son promoted, although the task wasn’t easy – the younger Bo was rejected from entering the Party’s Central Committee twice, Cheng said.The younger Bo is now a rising star in the Party and many analysts believe he is a potential vice premier.Nampa-Reuters

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