Li Peng - Legacy

Legacy

Although retired and in his early eighties, Li retains some influence in the PSC. The former Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China member Luo Gan, is considered to be his protégé. Since the 17th Party Congress, Li's influence has considerably waned and he is no longer active on China's political scene, partially owing to the corruption issues that plague him and his family.

Li spent much of the 1990s expanding and managing an energy monopoly, State Power Corp. Because the company was staffed by Li's relatives, Li's management effectively transformed China's energy industry into a "family fiefdom". At its height, Li's power company controlled 72% of all energy-producing assets in China, and was ranked as the sixtieth-largest company in the world by US magazine Fortune. After Li's departure from government, Li's energy monopoly was split into five smaller companies by the Chinese government.

In the Western media, Li is generally viewed as "widely hated" for his dominant role in endorsing the bloody crackdown on dissidents following the Tiananmen protests. He is generally unpopular in China, where he "has long been a figure of scorn and suspicion".

In 2010, Li's autobiographical book, The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries, was published by New Century Press. The Critical Moment covers Li's activities during the period of the Tiananmen Square protests, and was published on the protests' twenty-first anniversary. The Critical Moment had been available to publishers since 2004, when it was to be published on the protests' fifteenth anniversary, but was delayed due to legal reasons. New Century Press is run by Bao Pu, the son of Bao Tong, who was an aide to Li's rival, Zhao Ziyang. Bao Pu was also an editor for Zhao's autobiography, Prisoner of the State. Bao stated that he initially had some doubts about the book's authenticity, but that these were mostly resolved by the time of the book's publication. The book was initially published only in Chinese.