history
On May 20, 1989, Li publicly announced martial law in Beijing, making him the face of the hardline response to the Tiananmen Square protests. He remained Premier for nearly a decade afterward and later chaired the National People's Congress 1998–2003.
culture
Raised as an adopted son of Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao after his father's execution by the KMT, Li trained as a hydroelectric engineer in the Soviet Union — the Three Gorges Dam, approved in 1992, was his pet project.
