Wan Li, a major Chinese Communist political figure who served as vice premier and who was seen as a liberal voice in the Communist leadership, has died, state television reported on Wednesday. He was 98.
CCTV said among the opening headlines of its main evening news bulletin that Wan died in Beijing.
Wan was classed by some analysts as one of Communist China’s so-called Eight Immortals, a reference to a group of elite, elderly revolutionaries who survived the purges of Maoism and backed the ascent of Deng Xiaoping -- one of their number -- to power.
He was chairman of the rubber stamp legislature National People’s Congress (NPC) for five years from 1988, a tumultuous time that saw the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protestors at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June 1989.
Like many Chinese officials Wan was persecuted during the chaotic 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, though he was rehabilitated and became vice premier in the 1980s before being named head of the NPC. Online Chinese news outlet The Paper reported that Wan died of illness on Wednesday afternoon, citing his son.