Li Xiannian

(Redirected from Li Xianniàn)

**Li Xiannian**

Chinese	李先念
Hanyu Pinyin	Lǐ Xiānniàn
Wade-Giles	Li Hsien-nien
Order:	1st President
Term of Office:	June 18, 1983–April 8, 1988
Predecessor:	—
Successor:	Yang Shangkun
Date of Birth:	1902
Date of Death:	June 21, 1992
Place of Birth:	Hong'an, Hubei, China
Wife:	—
Political Party:	Communist

Lǐ Xiānniàn (1902–June 21, 1992) was President of the People's Republic of China between 1983 and 1988 and then president of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference until his death.

Li joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1927, and served as an army captain and political commissar for the Chinese Red Army during the Long March.

He was an influential political figure throughout the PRC, having been a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party since 1956. He fell from favour after the Cultural Revolution but was made finance minister in 1973 by Zhou Enlai, and started early moves to a market-based economy. For some years he was a deputy prime minister.

He was the father-in-law of Jiang Zemin.

He is considered as one of the Eight Immortals of Communist China.

Li Xiannian greets a delegation from Zambia, 1981

Preceded by:
Liu Shaoqi
(position vacant since 1969)

President of the People's Republic of China
1983–1988

Followed by:
Yang Shangkun

Categories: 1902 births | 1992 deaths | CPC leaders | Cold War people