Bo Yibo has died
He is probably best known today for being the father of one of the leading members of the so-called Prince’s faction and current Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, and having been the hardliner most in favor of a crackdown after Tiananmen.
I find his passing at least somewhat interesing since he seems to be the last remaining major figure of the Communist revoltution. He worked with Yan Xishan, warlord and sometime Frog commentator in setting up the Sacrifice League during the war with Japan and was instrumental in the relationship between Yan and the Communists. After the war he was mostly in financial and economic posts and was big on the development of heavy industry. He seems to have opposed the Great Leap about as much as you could without loosing his job, but his liberal ideas and connections to Liu Shaoqi got him in trouble during the CR. I really have nothing of interest to say about him, but I remember the shock I felt when I was an undergrad in a Russian history class and found out the Molotov was still alive.
I think he also played a key role in the 1976 arrest of Jiang Qing…
My bad: Bo was not central to the 1976 arrest of the “Gang of Four.” The relevant Marshals were: Ye Jianying, Xu Xiangqian, and Nie Rongzhen.
Bo Yibo did know how to survive. Almost 100 years, pretty amazing given his background. His recollections (若干重大决策与事件的回顾, originally published in two volumes) are a good read and recommended. Well, interesting content, not exactly riveting writing.