![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/bao-tong-champion-of-chinese-political-reform-dies-at-90/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/127578161_gettyimages-1228198842.jpg&description=Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Bao Tong was one of China's best-known political reformersBao Tong, the most senior Communist Party official imprisoned over the Tiananmen protests that shook Beijing in 1989, has died at 90.He championed political reform in the 1980s during pro-democracy protests. But after crushing the movement, the Communist Party expelled Bao and jailed him for seven years.Even as Chinese activists the world over mourn his passing, the news has drawn no reaction in his own country, where the internet is heavily censored.In the years that followed, the historic protests at Tiananmen effectively disappeared from public record - and so did all mention of the massacre, whose exact toll still remains unknown. Even today, a search for Bao's name on Weibo, China's heavily censored version of Twitter, yields no results. The screen says they cannot be displayed because of "relevant law and regulations". As a result of the Communist Party's harsh crackdown on any topic related to the 1980s protests, or any other form of dissent, few young Chinese know Bao's name.But condolences poured in from everywhere else after his son Bao Pu confirmed his death on Wednesday, saying his father had died peacefully that morning in Beijing, the city he had called home for decades. Wang Dan, a student leader from the Tiananmen protests, hailed him on Twitter as a reformer and rebel who was crucial to China opening up. Although he is "against" the Chinese Communist Party, he wrote that he would still like to "express utmost respect" for former party officials like Bao who fought for change before eventually leaving.In the 1980s, Bao was a top aide to Zhao Ziyang, then general secretary of the Communist Party - the same post now held by Xi Jinping. Zhao had been in favour of reform and a leading figure of that faction within the party. Born in 1932 in China's eastern Zhejiang Province, Bao joined the Communist Party in 1949, the same year it took control of mainland C){kind=link}
Bao Tong, the most senior Communist Party official imprisoned over the Tiananmen protests that shook Beijing in 1989, has died at 90.
He championed political reform in the 1980s during pro-democracy protests.
But after crushing the movement, the Communist Party expelled Bao and jailed him for seven years.
Even as Chinese activists the world over mourn his passing, the news has drawn no reaction in his own country, where the internet is heavily censored.
In the years that followed, the historic protests at Tiananmen effectively disappeared from public record – and so did all mention of the massacre, whose exact toll still remains unknown.