Liu Binyan (
The cause of death was believed to be complications related to colon cancer, his wife, Zhu Hong, said.
A crusading investigative journalist and devoted socialist, Liu became a popular figure in China in the 1980s for his literary exposes in the official party newspaper, People's Daily, on greed, corruption, and rampant abuse of power within the CCP system.
But he was eventually expelled from the party in 1987, along with two other leading dissident intellectuals, Fang Lizhi (
The expulsions came shortly after the government had clamped down on pro-democracy student demonstrators in January 1987, and then dismissed the nation's reform-minded CCP secretary-general Hu Yaobang (
The three intellectuals were denounced by Deng Xiaoping (
Few intellectuals in modern China were so daring or so persistent as Liu in publicly attacking and exposing corruption in the party. What was perhaps most remarkable about his career was that he did it as something of an insider, as a party member and a writer for official party publications in a country that has a history of very little public dissent.
But for that he paid a heavy price. He was expelled from the party twice, denounced as a "rightist" in the 1950s, sent to forced-labor camps, pardoned, rehabilitated, then denounced, re-expelled from the party, and eventually exiled.
He had a knack for saying what was on his mind, and for stubbornly insisting that the party was heading in the wrong direction, betraying the people and Marxist principles.
"He was one of the first people to challenge the party," says Merle Goldman, a professor of Chinese history at Boston University.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was