Topic

Chen Xitongi

Chen Xitong was the mayor of Beijing between 1983 and 1993. He was widely believed to be one of the key decision-makers within the Communist Party of China responsible for the bloody crackdown of a student-led democracy movement in Beijing in 1989, which led to the death of at least hundreds of students. Chen was stripped of his party membership in 1997 in a corruption investigation and was sentenced to 16 years in jail in 1998. He died of cancer on June 2, 2013. 

Advertisement

Wang Fandi, whose 19-year-old son Wang Nan was killed while taking photos on Changan Avenue on June 4, 1989, said that from an historical perspective, Chen had been only a tragic bit player in the crackdown.

Advertisement
Advertisement