Qian Jiaqu, an outspoken critic of the military crackdown against pro-democracy students in 1989, has died of an undisclosed illness at the age of 93.
Qian, a well-known economist and former deputy head of the China Democratic League, died on Tuesday in Shenzhen, Xinhua reported yesterday.
He was one of the chief architects of China's economic and financial reforms and also a top adviser to the People's Bank of China in the 1980s.
However, he ran foul of the authorities over his criticism of the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests.
In 1993, Qian was dismissed as a standing committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He then left China and lived in exile in the United States for a few years.
In the mid-1990s he requested permission from Beijing to return home. After repeated requests to President Jiang Zemin he was finally given the go-ahead and settled in Shenzhen.
