Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang was a liberal Chinese leader who has been called the "Gorbachev of China".[1] He served as the premier of China from 1980 to 1987, as vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1982, and as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1987 to 1989, taking over from his ally Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformer who had been in power since 1982.
He was in charge of the political reforms in China from 1986, but lost power for his support of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
He was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when he visited the students on hunger strike on Tiananmen Square and tearfully told them, "I came too late." He spent the rest of his life on house arrest until his death in 2005.[1]