10 Facts About Yao Yilin

Yao Yilin was a Chinese politician and soldier who was Vice Premier of China from 1979 to 1988 and First Vice Premier from 1988 to 1993.

Yao Yilin was born in Hong Kong in 1917, and spent his early years in Guichi, Anhui.

In 1979, Yao Yilin became the Vice-Premier of the State Council.

At the 13th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1987, Yao Yilin was elected to the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and later rose to the position of First Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China.

Yao Yilin was associated with the conservative side of the party which denied that the students were patriotic and advocated a quick suppression to the movement.

Yao Yilin rejected Zhao's offer to take the blame for changing the party's opinion of the movement because the people would begin to doubt the cohesiveness of the party.

Yao Yilin slowly pulled support away from Zhao Ziyang's reformist faction by making his supporters believe that Zhao sided too much with the students over the clarification of the editorial.

Yao Yilin attacked Zhao because he blamed the party for allowing corruption to go unchecked and making democracy and law worse in China.

Yao Yilin was the only member of the Standing Committee to refuse dialogue with the students because he believed that a small group of conspirators were behind these student organizations and dialogue with them would only strengthen their ability to overthrow the CCP.

Chow Chung-Yan discusses in his article published in the South China Morning Post how Li Peng and Yao Yilin favoured martial law because it would allow the hardliners to hold the power they had in the country.