424 Li Rui's Sing

Beast Press: Mr. Li Rui's works started to read twenty years ago, while Li Nanyang's works started from the article "I Have Such a Mother" published in "Book House" magazine.

Li Rui's Singing (Part 1): Common sense under the control of the party

Li Nanyang

February 27, 2019

It has been more than ten days since his father Li Rui passed away, and the official memorial service has been held as scheduled. Li Rui was admitted to Beijing Hospital on March 30, 2018. In my obituary for my father, I said that my father wrote the same content repeatedly in his last days: life is influenced by the times, knowledge, and ideas. Of the four limitations of ability and personal character , the first three were mentioned by Engels, and the last one was added by him.

In fact, for every Chinese living under the rule of the Communist Party, there is another thing that cannot be escaped, and that is the control of the Party. The despicableness of the means of restraint is definitely not limited to the visiting "undercover" guests.

Most of what my father said and the ideas expressed in most of the articles he wrote are common sense in a democratic country. There are so many people who respect and love Li Rui because he tells common sense under the control of the party. It takes courage, but also the wisdom to break through the restraint that stretched into his vicinity.

In accordance with the Communist Party's funeral system, the Organization Department of the Central Committee held the farewell of Li Rui's body in Babaoshan with "ministerial treatment" and covered him with a red party flag. According to my communication with my father and my understanding of him, this is completely against my father's true wishes.

The actual situation is not at all ministerial level treatment. That day, a friend who participated in the farewell of the remains told me that the memorial service had only been held for half an hour, and an unknown person stopped the end of the line and cut off the farewell line entering the hall. After the review and approval, relatives who can say goodbye to Li Rui in the hall are "invited" into the lounge, and they are not allowed to enter the hall where Li Rui's body is parked until Chen Xi, the head of the Central Organization Department, who came to say goodbye, arrives. . There are no banners on the door beams of the hall, and photography is not allowed. One of the relatives took a photo of the hall, and was immediately chased by unknown people. He was forced to hand over his mobile phone and deleted it. Li Rui's descendants were not allowed to leave a portrait of him as a souvenir.

Thanks to the New York Times Chinese website for agreeing to publish excerpts from the diary I kept by the hospital bed in my father's final days. I believe that readers will understand Li Rui's last time and the things behind it from these line drawings.

The diary has been edited and deleted.

April 3, 2018

Around 2:00 pm, the plane landed in Beijing ahead of schedule. There is a long snake-like queue at the exit, and every piece of luggage of every incoming passenger is checked by a scanning machine. The bottom of my big suitcase is covered with a layer of the October 2017 issue of "Contending", which the magazine asked me to transfer to mainland authors, and contained a congratulatory message written by my father for the 40th anniversary of the magazine's founding.

I picked up the boxes that had been delivered steadily from the conveyor belt of the scanner, put them on the luggage trolley and walked towards the customs exit. A young man chased after the screen, with a friendly smile on his face: "Auntie, do you have a lot of books in your suitcase?"

I said yes."

The young man asked, "What kind of books are they?"

I said, "Magazine."

The young man turned and ran back, using his back to say "Bye-bye!"

Walking out of the customs, I prayed in my heart: I hope this is a good sign, and my father is not serious.

Three days ago, on March 31st, my husband, Batty Chung, and I were at our daughter's home on the east coast of the United States. We flew over from the west coast for our little granddaughter's fourth birthday. In the middle of the night, I received long-distance calls from my friend who lived upstairs from my father, text messages from my friend's brother who lived in the United States, calls from my brother Tizhong, and emails from my cousin's daughter, all of which conveyed the same message: "Your father was hospitalized on March 30. It's not good."

Our original plan was to return to China on April 8 to celebrate my father's birthday. I hurriedly woke up my sleeping daughter and told her that we had to change the ticket immediately, fly to San Francisco early tomorrow morning, and then go back to the mainland.

We took a direct call from the Capital Airport to Beijing Hospital. We were queuing up to go through the visitation procedures at the west gate. My father's car drove to the door. The driver was full (also the stepmother's son-in-law) and greeted us to get on the bus, no need to go through it. The guard at the door saw the "pass" in the front windshield of the car, opened the iron fence, and then used his elevator card to take us to the eighth floor. Find 815A, go through the parlour and enter the ward. Stepmother Zhang Yuzhen was sitting on the sofa chair leaning against the glass screen of the balcony, the second cousin Lifeng's wife Jin Jin was also there, and the old man was in a drowsiness.

After waving my hands to say hello to them, I gently walked to the hospital bed and called out "Dad" a few times. Seeing that there was no response, I stopped calling.

When I asked Aunt Zhang about the situation, she said: It was 8:30 in the morning on March 27, and your father still hadn't woken up. Qiang woke him up for breakfast, sat on the living room sofa for a while and fell back asleep. On March 30, he was forced to come to the hospital to see a doctor, and he was hospitalized. Always bad, always lethargic.

While talking, I found my father moved with difficulty, as if he was about to turn over, and his eyes blinked slightly. I hurriedly leaned down and called in his ear, "Dad." My father opened his eyes, looked at me blankly, and closed them again. A big teardrop rolled from the corner of his right eye.

He began to talk nonsense: "One step, one step; two steps, two steps; three steps, I took the fourth step and it became clear. But the other party didn't understand, I took the fourth step and it became clear, but the other party couldn't understand. ......" Repeatedly, about thirty minutes, and then gradually woke up, recognized me, and asked clearly: "Oh, little sister. You are back. How long will you stay this time?"

I attached to his ear and said, "More than twenty days."

Father smiled: "Okay, okay." Then he asked, "How long will you stay this time?" I was worried that he was a little confused.

I said, "It's very long, I won't be leaving for a while, don't worry."

Father nodded. I let Ti Zhong beside the bed, and the old man recognized it immediately: "Ti Zhong!" Seeing Jin Jin standing at the end of the bed, he asked, "Is Li Feng here too?"

From Jinjin's contact with Lifeng, it seems that I have no problem with my brain, and I am a little relieved.

April 4, 2018

Early in the morning, I took a full car to the hospital. During non-visiting time, he could only use his "pass" to enter the high-level cadre inpatient building. Walking into the ward, I saw my father lying on the bed with bright eyes, his head slightly turned to the door. Seeing me come in, I asked Xiao Yu (who has been a nanny at my father's house for more than ten years) to shake the bed.

Just as I sat down on the chair by the bed, the old man said, "Tell me, what does the outside world think of Xi Jinping this time? It's not a joke to pass unanimously." Obviously referring to the just-passed abolition of the President of the People's Republic of China A draft amendment to the Constitution for a two-term term. "Putin was elected with 76% of the votes in favor, and 2/3 of the votes. This is still a bit of a talk." He added, "Your Presidential guy is messing up, it's a mess." It's really a different person from yesterday - still the father I know well. Ah!

I replied with a smile: "But a lot of people like Trump."

Father said "oh".

At about 10:40, the secretary-general of the Organization Department, the deputy director of the Veteran Cadre Bureau, together with the driver and a group of four, brought a basket of fruits to visit. I woke up my father, and the secretary Xue Jing told him, "Someone from the ministry has come to see you."

Father saw the person coming, and with a smile on his face, he stretched out his hands to shake one by one and thank him. The secretary-general and the chief director sat down, and the deputy chief and the driver retreated to the outside to wait. Xue Jing and I both took out our mobile phones and took pictures and videos. The director immediately stood up from the chair nervously: "Secretary Xue, eldest sister, let's agree, we will take the photo here, it will not be rumored, it must not be rumored!" He added gestures and repeated: "It must not be rumored, it must be!"

I thought it was a bit funny, but I didn't want to embarrass him: "Don't worry. I promise you, it's your word." Then he sat back again and continued to "greet Mr. Li on behalf of the organization."

The people from the organization department left, but my father was still very energetic and let me sit and chat. Said he wrote a poem about Peng Dehuai for his hometown of Pingjiang County, Hunan Province. I said, "I see, it's on the Internet." I found a picture on my phone that a friend who worked at the Hoover Institution had sent to me, and sent it to him: "This is your word from the Internet. photo." The old man was suddenly happy. I read his written speech to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China uploaded on the Internet on my mobile phone again, and he was excited: "The Internet is a powerful thing, and the mobile phone is amazing! Now is the Internet age, and I can't stop it!"

After the nap, Aunt Zhang's daughter Xiaoling and her son-in-law were full, and her son came victorious. At 2:30, the nurse came in and greeted us to go to the conference room for a meeting. Everyone was walking to the conference room, and Shengli said, "I heard that you can live for several years after being intubated. It's fine. It's okay." I said, "That's a vegetative person, not a real person. Not to my dad' It's alright, it's alright'."

In the conference room, the deputy director of the old cadre bureau, the two cadres, and the secretary Xue Jing, who came to the organization department in the morning, had arrived. They sat on the left side of the conference table by the door, leaving the middle seat for the old lady. , Xiaoling and Shengli sat down next to the old lady's right in turn, Kong gave my brother a seat, and then I and Manqi.

A deputy chief physician, a neurologist, and a physician then came in and sat down on the other side of the table. The deputy director talked first, without politeness, and went straight to the topic: Mr. Li was admitted to the hospital this time because of a lung infection and a heart problem. After drug control, the current situation has stabilized. However, if there is blood in the stool for several days, it is certain that there is cancer, but there is no need to diagnose it, because no treatment can be given after the diagnosis, and this will not be a fatal disease of Li Lao, and the final threat to life will be heart and lung failure. Given Li's age and the condition of his heart and lungs, mutations can occur at any time. The purpose of inviting you to talk today is to hope that the family members will make a decision on whether to perform extracorporeal cardiac resuscitation and laryngotomy and ventilator rescue. Now that everyone is here, the Qingming holiday starts tomorrow, and a decision needs to be made today.

The old man had cancer, which surprised Aunt Zhang: "How is it that he is fine, he has cancer? How could it be..." No one interrupted her.

But I could see that the doctors were a little impatient, so I had to speak first: "Let me express my stance. Li Rui is a dignified person, and he lives with dignity; he must walk with dignity. There are no means."

Just then, my brother came in. I briefly told him the hospital's purpose for convening this meeting and the attitude I just expressed, and he immediately said, "I've seen too much. No rescue."

Aunt Zhang was a little unhappy: "What are you watching too much?"

The elder brother was stunned for a moment, and said, "When my mother was finally hospitalized, I saw many elderly people in other wards who were intubated and just lying there. Dad should be allowed to leave with dignity."

I turned to the doctors on the opposite side: "The attitude of the child on our side is very clear, but the old lady's opinion comes first, and her opinion shall prevail."

Aunt Zhang said, "I have to give me a few days to think about it. Now I am confused and confused, and I can't make a decision."

The deputy director said mildly but firmly: "I'm sorry, this decision must be made today." He added, "We have other things to do, so we can't wait. Let's go first, and your family members can discuss it yourself."

The deputy director of the old cadre bureau and the two cadres also stood up and said to the secretary Xue Jing: "We still have something to do, let's go first."

I was a little anxious: "This opinion letter has to be signed by the unit. If you leave, can't you sign it today? The hospital is waiting for a decision."

The deputy director said: "The family members don't make a decision, how can we sign it?"

I said, "You just sign: agree with the family's opinion."

The deputy director picked up the pen and signed it immediately.

Aunt Zhang is still talking to herself: "How can a good person get cancer. I can't accept it..."

Xiaoling helped the old lady up and everyone went back to the ward together. The father was still asleep, and Aunt Zhang fell down on the sofa and muttered to herself:

"Cancer, how can it be cancer..." Gradually approaching the end of get off work, I reluctantly said to Shengli: "Tell me clearly with your mother, there must be a decision before five o'clock." Signed on the form: no extracorporeal cardiac resuscitation, no tube cutting and ventilator. I breathed a sigh of relief: thank goodness my father was spared.

April 5, 2018

When I arrived at the hospital at 1:30 in the afternoon, my father had been in a coma. After a long time, the old man woke up and gestured at me, "Bring it, bring it." Seeing that I didn't understand what he wanted, I became anxious, raised my voice and said anxiously: "That thing you, that thing you brought..." I tentatively brought him the final issue of "Contending" that was on the bedside table yesterday morning. , turned to the page with his congratulatory message, the old man fell silent.

Here's what the father wrote:

"October this year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Hong Kong's "Contense" magazine, which is a very difficult task. Although Deng Xiaoping made a promise to the people of Hong Kong that 'one country, two systems, unchanged for 50 years'.

People who lived in the mainland and maintained independent thinking lost the last position where they could make a sound last year - "Yanhuang Chunqiu". I am 101 years old this year. I have already said enough about what I should say, and I have already written the opinions that I should write, but my mind is still hard to calm down, because when will constitutionalism be launched? (This is the title of a book I wrote in my later years.) I'm still thinking, and constantly taking nourishment from the writings of people younger than me, living and learning. Therefore, I sincerely hope that "Contestation" will become better and better, and continue to provide a place for communication and contention for people who think with their own minds. "

Of course, when my father wrote the congratulatory message, he never imagined that this issue had become the curtain call of "Contending". The Hong Kong magazine "Contense", which was first published in November 1977, ceased publication in October 2017.

The bed that Auntie Zhang stayed with was on the large balcony separated from the ward by floor-to-ceiling glass. When I got up from a nap, saw me sitting beside the old man's bed, she sat down on the other side and asked me, "Your father and I Did you talk about going back to Pingjiang?"

I understand that she is talking to me about her father's funeral arrangements. Then he said: "I said that there will be no memorial service, no party flag, no entering Babaoshan, and returning to Pingjiang."

Aunt Zhang said: "your father told me, 'You don't go back to Pingjiang, neither will I, we'll go back together.' But going back to Pingjiang is a big deal, you can't do it yourself, so you have to organize to come forward. That place is not good, there is no road. It’s good to go, and no one can get there.”

I didn't say anything more.

April 6, 2018

Got to the hospital around 2pm. The TV in the ward was on and the volume was loud. I was pleasantly surprised to find my father lying on the bed with his eyes open, in good spirits. Hearing the sound, he turned his head. Seeing it was me, he said, "Hu Dehua will be here in a while, I'm going to sit up." I shook the bed up, and the old man closed his eyes and rested.

Hu Yaobang's third son Hu Dehua and his wife arrived after three o'clock. The old man shook hands with them happily and said confidently: "I am uncomfortable, the country has been like this for so many years, and three things must be clarified. (The old man sees people in his later years.) He said: “We need to find out what is going on in history, what the party is, and what doctrine is.) China just didn’t have democracy and science, and then a doctrine and a Communist Party emerged. What should I do? , and Marx, the Communist Party, and Mao Zedong, which only China can produce.”

Dehua should agree: "Only by autocracy can the Communist Party be born."

The old man said: "China's change of dynasties relies on peasant wars, killing one emperor and creating another emperor. I have read the first manuscript of his (Mao Zedong) ("Analysis of Various Classes in Chinese Society"). Officials are all counter-revolutionaries. It is your responsibility that Xi Jinping appears. You have to find out about him. Is he illiterate? Mao is illiterate, and scored zero in mathematics. Very, come up with such a son."

Dehua said: "Xi Zhongxun not only said at the life meeting (to fight against Hu Yaobang), 'You are forcing the palace', he also said, 'I also have a share of the things you criticized Hu Yaobang.'"

The old man sighed: "Zhongxun and Yaobang are my best friends. I just can't figure out Xi Jinping, and only later learned that he has no culture. It is your responsibility to find out. How good is your father, I go to Shenzhen to see him every year."

My father went to Shenzhen to see Xi Zhongxun, and when he called him Dehua's father, he was obviously tired and couldn't understand. I said to Dehua, "Stop talking, let the old man rest."

My father pointed at me and asked Dehua: "How is my daughter?"

"We've known each other for a long time," Dehua said.

My father said, "She just wrote about her mother." My father attached great importance to the article "I Have Such a Mother" written by me. He kept telling me: You should write about your mother, it's too typical. But he didn't expect me to actually write it. This article caused great controversy after it was published, and those who opposed it believed that it violated traditional Chinese morality.

Dehua said, "Uncle Li, take a rest, we'll see you again."

The old man nodded, then closed his eyes wearily.

April 7, 2018

In the afternoon, about 1:10 to the hospital. When I walked into the ward, the old man was awake, and when he saw me coming in, he looked towards the balcony. The old lady was taking a nap, beckoning me to sit closer, and asked in a low voice, "The last time the American ambassador came to see me, she said it was you. did. Did you?"

In April 2011, U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman wanted to visit Li Rui in a private capacity before leaving office. A friend from the embassy asked me to ask my father if he would like to meet him. The father was very happy and agreed. Auntie Zhang also agreed in front of me. But after I left, I asked Secretary Xue Jing to report the matter to the Organization Department. The department replied, saying that Hong Bopei would need to apply through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to see Li Rui, but he was not seen.

I was delighted: "How can I have the ability to know the ambassador?"

The old man rushed to the balcony and raised his chin: "She thinks it's your fault, explain it to her."

I said, "It's useless, she won't believe me, so I won't explain."

My father didn't say anything. He started talking about Xi Jinping's lack of culture, and recalled that he invited him to dinner in Zhejiang in 2006. I turned on the recording function of my mobile phone: "I told Xi Jinping that day, you can play side balls now. Xi Jinping said, you can , how dare I."

I saw that he had a clear mind and a good spirit. Aunt Zhang was not nearby, so she stuck to his ear and asked each word: "Everyone is very concerned, do you want to hold a memorial service? Do you want to put up a party flag? Yes Don't enter Babao Mountain?"

Father asked, "Oh, that means I'm dead..."

I said, "Yes."

The old man stared at the ceiling for half a day, half a day, a full half a minute, and answered me backwards from the last question: "The question is what will happen to the people of Pingjiang. Yuzhen is likely to be willing, and the two of us will return to Pingjiang after cremation. , and put them with their parents (the cemetery)."

I asked, "Would you like to do it yourself?"

The father said: "It's good for my father, my father is a good man, and Yuzhen is willing. What's the point of staying in Beijing! Where is it? Where is it for you? Tell me, is anyone willing? Then It's okay to stay in the house I live in now. If not, Pingjiang, that's what I want, and I want to do it myself. Pingjiang is a tourist area, especially Peng Dehuai is there. "

To my question of "Would you like to enter Babao Mountain?", although my father did not give a positive answer, he clearly stated, "(Returning to) Pingjiang is what I am willing to do." Are you going to cover the party flag?"

My father still went around and said: "The Communist Party has no scientific knowledge, and it is also (reflected) here - this red color damages the eyes, you know? The green color protects the eyes. The Communist Party revolution is the red flag, and I still like it to this day. The red color. The TV station's activities are mostly red, alas! Therefore, the development of human beings, the twentieth century, is a special century. The two world wars, the Soviet Union, were engaged in and collapsed; China, It's done, it hasn't collapsed yet, but it XXX (author's note: Hidden to the country), so many people died, the Chinese Communist Party's horror is starvation! Yang Jisheng's father starved to death. Have you read the two thick books? Mao Zedong, I think he is one of the worst people in the world, how can you bear to die like that?! It's terrible."

The old man continued to follow the topic of Mao Zedong: "His own life is so good, I either have a meal at his house, or have bear's paws. His life in Yan'an is also the best, what to eat in Yan'an What? Two things: chicks and loach. The Long March is to carry him to sleep during the day and get up to do things at night. Alas! This Mao Zedong... Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi... Zhou Enlai is the most annoying to him..."

Aunt Zhang, who was sleeping on the balcony outside in the morning, got up at this time, and the old man was sensitively aware: "Oh, she is up." She immediately stopped.

After that day, I never found the opportunity to ask my father the first question: "Do you want to have a memorial service?"

Aunt Zhang walked into the ward, and her father said, "The American ambassador came to see me, it wasn't the younger sister who did it." The old lady pretended not to hear.

I said, "Dad, after chatting for a long time, I'm tired. Go to sleep for a while."

Li Nanyang, a mechanical engineer, left China in 1990 and worked in several scientific research institutions in the United States. After retiring in 2014, he was a visiting researcher at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Author of "I have such a mother", "My father Li Rui", "Story in a foreign country" and other books.



Li Rui Jue Sing (Part 2): What should I do? This party!

Li Nanyang

February 28, 2019

A few days ago, there was no eulogy, no life introduction, no elegiac couplet, no grief at the funeral of father Li Rui's "ministerial treatment"... Even the flowers held by the people who came to say goodbye were blocked from the hall. People angrily said it was a "silent and silent" memorial service.

How proud I am of my father. The CCP feared Li Rui's voice before his death, and feared his remains after his death. A person who can frighten the omnipresent and omnipotent party to such a degree, he is a genius in heaven, and he will laugh.

On his 101st birthday, his father uttered his "swan song" from his hospital bed. Although he was not able to get rid of the Communist Party's restraint on him in the end, he has saved his soul and can laugh at other people's lives.

The following is a diary I kept at my father's bedside. Edited and deleted.

April 8, 2018

Arrive at the hospital in the afternoon. Father's spirit is not as good as it was yesterday, and he seems to be sleeping.

I said, "I will go to Ziyang's house tomorrow to bow. What do you have to say? I'll take it there."

The father immediately said: "Yaobang and Ziyang saved the party and the country. Ziyang is stronger than Yaobang economically."

I said, "The ashes of Ziyang and his wife are still in the house and cannot be buried."

My father said: "This is outrageous." Then he talked to me about how he met Ziyang's wife for the first time, and the time and space were a little confusing; he also mentioned Yan Huai's new book ("In and Out of the Central Organization Department: A Red Second The Alternative Life of an Ideologicalist"), there are still some inconsistencies in the foreword.

I asked Aunt Zhang, "(Secretary) Xue Jing hasn't come yet?"

She said, "Come on, maybe in a while. He reports the old man's situation to the organization department every day."

At this time, my father's friend in need and painter Wang Shensheng in Mozitan (the place where he was exiled twice in the 1960s and 1970s, located in Dabie Mountain) arrived at the Beijing Railway Station. He came from Shanghai to see the old man and asked me how to enter the hospital building through a text message. . At about three o'clock, Shen Sheng entered the ward, and the old man recognized it at a glance and said, "Wang Huning, we are friends in need!"

I wrote "Wang Shensheng" on a clipboard and handed it to my father. He smiled: "Shen Sheng, Shen Sheng. Wang Huning is that guy."

"Shen Sheng, how many years have you not been here?" I recalled the process of acquaintance and interaction with Shen Sheng in the exile in Mozitan, clearly and accurately.

April 11, 2018

My father was in a coma until he woke up at 1:48 p.m., saw me beside the bed, and asked, "When are you going back to America?"

I said, "Number 20."

The old man turned his head and looked at Man Qi: "I will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow afternoon."

Xiaoyu told me, "The old man has something for you."

Sure enough, my father said, "I want to go home, I have something, and I want to give you something important."

I said, "You tell where Manqi is and let him pick it up and give it to me."

The old man shook his head: "No one else knows, I'll give it to you myself."

(I have no idea what my father wants to give me. But most of his original diary and other original texts have been handed over to me one after another over the years, and I will donate them to the American Hu according to his wishes. The Buddha Archives. There is no perfect thing in the world, and what you can't get is what you can't get. Maybe one day it will appear in the word booth of Panjiayuan in Beijing.)

After a while, a group of doctors came in for rounds, and the old man said loudly, "My daughter came back from the United States and ordered three tables of meals for me. I'm going to be discharged from the hospital! Go out for my birthday!"

I have indeed reserved three birthday banquets at the Guohong Hotel. I plan to invite his few old buddies and wives, as well as several old secretaries and organizations, on April 13, just like last year. The old subordinates of the Ministry and the juniors who came to Beijing specially from all over the country congratulated him on his birthday. Father seems to be really looking forward to celebrating his 101st birthday.

The doctors left, and my father chatted with me, saying, "I am very lucky. A wife takes care of my life, and a daughter makes my name in history."

April 12, 2018

Go to the hospital at 8:30 in the morning.

At 9:30, the secretary Xue Jing and several cadres from the Veteran Cadre Bureau of the Organization Department arrived first and placed the large flower baskets and gifts at the door of the ward. One person was left to stay there, and the rest left, I guess to wait for Jiang Xinzhi, Executive Vice Minister of the Organization Department.

Finally, a group of people in white and black in the corridor appeared at the entrance of the ward, surrounded by a medium-sized, slightly thin person who was also wearing a black jacket. I knew that this was the current Executive Deputy Director of the Organization Department, Jiang, and instinctively. Comparing him with Li Rui in this position in the past, he couldn't help being a nine-pound old lady.

Two or three people in white clothes and the director of the old cadre bureau accompanied Deputy Minister Jiang into the ward. Xue Jing whispered in my ear, next to Vice Minister Jiang is the director of Beijing Hospital.

The father, who was closing his eyes, opened his eyes at this time, and his eyes swept across the group of people, revealing the eagle-like sharpness that I am familiar with and unique to Li Rui. Minister Jiang walked over and shook hands with the old man. The old man smiled and motioned him to sit down. Director Lao Gan walked past me and Xue Jing and whispered, "Don't take pictures, don't record videos!"

The old man said, "Thank you for coming to see me. I will be 102 years old tomorrow." Immediately, the conversation changed and he began to "speak nonsense" aloud. Starting from Zeng Guofan's teacher, he repeats the story he has told hundreds of times to the guests at home: During the Anti-Japanese War, an American pilot's plane was shot down and forced to land not far from Zeng Guofan's house. There are seven people in the Zeng family, and all of them will tell the story. English. What have we done? As soon as the nation was founded, he studied the Soviet Union, and English was abolished.

I'm not surprised - my father is like a mirror in his heart, Zhang Yuzhen is not here, he can say whatever he wants.

Minister Jiang's expression was unexpected. He was probably not mentally prepared for Li Rui to say such things on such an occasion. I really admire his concentration, able to keep the smile that started on his face.

However, the director of the Laogan Bureau couldn't sit still. He interrupted the old man several times, trying to change the subject: "Minister Jiang came to see you for your birthday."

The old man waved his hand to him, which meant, "Don't interrupt!" He was still talking to himself: "Now that man's portrait is still hanging on Tiananmen Square, and he is also worshipping Xi Jinping, like what!"

As soon as I said this, I was sweating on behalf of Minister Jiang: If someone reported it to Boss Xi, it would not be easy to explain it clearly.

Minister Jiang really couldn't sit still. He stood up and stretched out his hand to the old man: "You are tired after talking for a long time. You rest, rest. We are leaving." The old man grabbed his hand and said, "Don't go, I still Not finished."

The director of the Laogan Bureau hurriedly stepped forward to make a clearance, and replaced Minister Jiang's hand with his own hand to hold the old man: "The Minister is busy, there is still something to do, there is still a meeting." Then let go, almost escaping, stepping on Minister Jiang The heels leave the ward.

Father lifted his upper body from the hospital bed and shouted at the backs of these people: "If you don't like to hear me, I have to say it. You can treat me as a bad person, I don't care. I just want to say... "

I was the only family member present, thinking that I should see off the guests on behalf of my father, so I also went to the corridor, thinking that what I saw would be a group of leaving figures. Unexpectedly, the director, Minister Jiang, and several doctors who presided over my father's treatment were standing there, waiting for me. Can not help but secretly amazed.

Seeing me coming out, as if nothing had happened just now, Minister Jiang said to me with a smile on his face: "Look, what are your family's requirements, and what do you think about the hospital?"

I really admire Aunt Zhang, and there is such an agenda: the minister asks the family members what requirements they have in front of the dean. Without thinking about it, I blurted out: "No request, no request at all." "The doctor is good, the nurse is good, all are good, very good. I don't have any opinion. It is incomparable with the conditions of the common people. If I ask any more It's outrageous!"

It seems that Minister Jiang was not prepared for my answer either.

There was surprise on the dean's face, but he repeated with relief: "No requirement, compare with the common people..."

April 13, 2018 (Li Rui's 101st birthday)

Early in the morning, I woke up and took Tizhong and I to the hospital. The old man is watching TV, very energetic. When he saw us coming in, he said, "Today is my birthday, and I won't be discharged from the hospital. What about the meal you ordered?"

I said, "I'll invite my eldest sister and the others to dinner tonight, and then I'll invite my friends to dinner. I'll keep the table for you and your old buddy for you to eat when you're discharged from the hospital."

Father was happy: "Good! Good!"

After eleven o'clock, the old secretary and the current secretary of the former Politburo Standing Committee member Hu Qili came and brought a birthday message written by Hu Qili on the red paper. The old man was very happy and asked me to put the congratulatory message on the stage under the glass partition of the balcony where he could see it.

Around four o'clock, Li Shenzhi's daughter Errou, Huang Wanli's daughter Xiao Lu, VOA reporter Ye Bing and a young photographer walked into the ward with a flower basket and a poem set in a long frame. I don't know Ye Bing, but because of watching the show, I am familiar with his face. Xiao Lu contacted me about an hour ago and said that their birthday party had just ended, and they were on their way to the hospital with a flower basket to pay the old man a birthday greeting. I said: The old man is a little disappointed that he didn't eat the birthday banquet, I will be happy to see you, come on. But the VOA reporters who attended their party also came along, which I didn't expect, and also came in, I really don't know how to go through the visitation procedures.

I asked Xiao Lu and Errou to put the flower basket at the door of the ward, and the frame of Shi's mirror was placed against the old man's bed so that he could see it.

Looking at these unrecognized or temporarily unrecognizable people, the old man's expression seemed to ask, "Who are you all?"

I explained to him, "Hu Dehua, Lu De, Yan Huai, Mu Guangfeng, Errou and Xiao Lu have just celebrated your birthday party for you, and now they have brought flowers to see you."

With a bright smile on his father's face, he bowed with both hands: "Thank you! Thank you!"

Ye Bing walked over to the bed and introduced himself: "I'm a reporter for the Voice of America."

I observed the old man's expression, and if he was not happy, I politely asked Ye Bing to leave.

The old man's eyes lit up: "Oh, American reporter!" I knew that my father had entered the same situation as yesterday morning, sober and excited—Zhang Yuzhen was away, and he was going to "reckless".

I shouted in my heart: "Heaven has eyes! I gave Li Rui a chance to sing!!"

My father said, "I'm already 102 years old. I'm 101 years old, so I'll eat 102 years old." The clue is clear.

Ye Bing said, "You can give VOA a hope."

The old man thought about it for a moment, with a naughty smile on his face: "Voice of America has broadcast some powerful words (words) I said casually. Once, shortly after Xi (Jinping) came to power, I was chatting with the daughter of an old friend. , what did she say? She said that there is such a saying on the Internet now: 'If the fault does not change, the evil will become a habit'. I heard that it has spread to the United States, and the United States has made it public." (laughs)

"You know what? I have a book called "Li Rui's Oral History", and the last chapter is about high-level figures I have come into contact with. It started with Mao Zedong and ended up with Xi Jinping... I didn't know his education at that time. So low. You know, he was in elementary school... Of course I didn't look down on him at that time, because he was Zhong Xun's son. Zhong Xun, you know, that's amazing, and Zhong Xun and I are good friends... ... Now (shakes his head), it's hard for him to tell what will happen now."

Ye Bing asked, "Do you have any advice for him?"

Father shook his head, then shook his head again: "I can't do it, I can't do it either... Can this person accept it now? Impossible, impossible."

"China is a country, there is no way to do it. What kind of cultural tradition is it... The May Fourth Movement in China has already solved what it lacks, that is, human rights and science. The May Fourth Movement has been solved, and as a result, another Marx, Marx It is an utopian socialism, so coming to China is easy to accept.”

"Mao Zedong hates intellectuals. I have read the original text of his first article, "Analysis of All Classes in Chinese Society." They are counter-revolutionaries; secondly, middle school teachers, middle-level bureaucrats, semi-counter-revolutionaries; primary school teachers…”

I don't know when the doctor who came in walked to the bedside and leaned down: "Mr. Li, let's not talk anymore, let's rest."

My father wanted to continue: "Hu Shizhi was the first counter-revolutionary, at that time..."

The doctor's attitude became very firm: "Let's rest, rest. It's time to eat (nasal feeding)."

Father stopped helplessly. I waved apologetically to everyone and said goodbye.

April 14, 2018

The old man woke up at 1:15 in the afternoon, called me to his side, and said, "You should write down the people who come every day when you come back this time, and what they say. And you have a meeting with people outside ( The old man turned the party into a meeting), and write down what everyone said."

I said, "Well, see what you mean, I will."

My father added, "I didn't expect Hu Qili to care so much about me. I still like to be touted." He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

April 19, 2018

Go to the hospital at 8:40 in the morning. Manqi handed me two clips of information in the car, saying that the old man asked him to copy it to me. I opened it and read some online articles criticizing Xi Jinping. I accepted it. I know that his friends who can get over the wall got it for him from the Internet, but he doesn't think I can't see it in the United States.

In the ward, my father was sleeping. At about noon, I was completely awake and asked me, "Has Man Qi brought you the materials?"

I said, "It's full of copies, give it to me, don't worry."

The father said, "I want to go home, and I have a lot of information for you."

I still didn't know what my father wanted to give me, but I was afraid that he would be anxious and sad, so I comforted him and said, "It doesn't matter, I will come back. Next time I come back and you are discharged from the hospital, give it to me."

The old man asked, "When will you be back?"

I said, "Just come back, come back."

At about five o'clock, I left the ward, stood at the door of the ward and silently looked at my father who was sleeping on the bed: Dad, please forgive me for not being able to stay by your bed. I myself was diagnosed with blood cancer in July last year, and I need a blood test every month to adjust the dose of chemotherapy drugs. I will hold on, organize and annotate your historical data, you must hold on too, we will see you next time.

May-October 2018

On May 21st, our group sent a short letter of "About Words", and the deadline was June 10th. A total of 101 people and 125,000 words of "Send Words" were received. The plate was made on June 11, and the book "Respect to Li Rui" was published on the 12th. The first book that was brought into the mainland on June 14 was not delivered to Li Rui, but on July 21, a friend who returned from a trip to the United States successfully delivered the second self-printed book "To Li Rui" in person. into his hands. Xiaoyu told me that the old man took the book and said, "It's amazing! It's amazing!"

On the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 24, my friend's two younger sisters went to the hospital to visit their father with the sample book "Respect to Li Rui", which was officially published in Hong Kong in August. The younger sister then sent an email: "The old man seems to be in good health. I have to go on the ventilator at most twice, morning and night. I usually take oxygen through the nose, but my brain is a little slow, which may be related to hearing. After I get the book, I don’t let go, and I turn it page by page.” And her sister was in What I was told on the phone was, "The old man is so confused that he doesn't understand what we're talking about. He just said repeatedly: 'What should I do? This party!'"

October 26, 2018

We left San Francisco on October 24th and arrived in Beijing on the 25th. On the morning of October 26, he went to the hospital and was stopped at the west gate, where he was not allowed to visit. It's no use picking us up. A person came out of the visiting room and said to the woman who refused to go through the formalities for visiting us: "I didn't have time to tell you, Yang Wei (voice) from the security department has explained that a daughter who came back from the United States can be allowed to visit." The lady insisted: "I have to visit Jin after three o'clock in the afternoon. The family members of 815A have instructed me." I said: "I am also a family member, not an outsider. You should compare your heart to your heart. If you come back from abroad to visit your father, how can you only be allowed to visit. Time to visit, instead of staying in the ward all day to take care of you like a nurse?" Ti Zhong stepped forward and asked, "Which family member? What explanation?" The lady was a little annoyed: "I won't tell , I've said too much."

With no other choice, Ti Zhong had to leave. I went around to the outpatient area of the hospital by myself, turned around, and managed to get into the inpatient building of senior officials. I was changing clothes outside when I heard Xiao Yu say to the old man in the inner ward, "Look, who is here?"

When I entered the ward, I saw my father lying on the bed with his eyes open. He smiled at me with difficulty: "When did you come back?" Smooth and clear.

I said, "Yesterday afternoon..." His eyes were closed.

Xiaoyu said that the old man's situation is very different from before she returned to her hometown at the end of September, and a big hurdle has been reached. The nurse said that she had been having a fever and could not get out of bed.

October 29, 2018

At nine o'clock in the morning, I got up in the car and went to the hospital. Xiaoyu said that the old man had a fever of 39°C last night. But people are very quiet, there is no irritable performance. I walked to the bed and called softly: "Dad." After calling several times, I responded and cried softly, but I didn't open my eyes.

Dr. Dong came and explained why he no longer emailed me about his condition after October. He said that the senior cadre building had conducted confidential education, and the chief’s condition was classified information. He just finished two confidential examination papers yesterday. I asked, "If my father is critically ill, will the hospital not notify me?" Dr. Dong said, "I won't notify you. Auntie (Xiaoyu) has contact with you, and she will tell you."

I'm speechless……

October 31, 2018

At 10:30, the hospital convened a meeting with family members and units to report Li Rui's condition. The hospital has Director Yu, two doctors, Dong and Li, and four people from the Organization Department. Dr. Li gave a lecture, saying that Li Lao currently has DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation), which is judged to be caused by the infection of the buried vein, and the situation is dangerous. The hospital will try its best, but at such an advanced age, I am not sure.

November 1, 2018

In the evening, I was having dinner with a few friends at the Guohong Hotel, and suddenly received a call from Xiaoyu: "Little sister, the old man is not good, come quickly!" Tizhong and I rushed to the hospital and trotted all the way to the hospital. The outpatient department circled into the high-ranking inpatient building, and the attending doctor of the respiratory department was on duty to inform us of the condition: a sudden lack of oxygen, and had been put on a non-invasive ventilator. Confirm again with us that no traumatic rescue is to be performed. An hour later, Man Qi drove the old lady and Shengli there, and Aunt Zhang stayed in the ward for the night.

November 4, 2018

Enter the ward as yesterday. After taking the fog and phlegm, the old man woke up and said something I could understand vaguely: "Where do you eat?" Xiao Yu said with a stubborn smile: "When my daughter is here, you ignore me. "The old man rolled his eyes at her and waved his hand, looking very strong. We are all happy: the old man is not confused and still has energy!

November 10, 2018

Father is not doing well today. The doctor on duty rounded the room and said that Wang Dongxing (an important political figure during the "Cultural Revolution" period) was always talking about class struggle all day long. That was probably the most impressive thing in his life. Nodding on the old man with his chin: "This old man is not bad, he speaks the words of ordinary people." Then he sighed and said, "Don't let your brain break, that would be a pity."

My father woke up only once, recognized me, and smiled like a child.

November 14, 2018

Early in the morning, Guo Hong picked me up and Ti Zhong and Aunt Zhang was already sitting in the car. We went to the hospital together. The old man has been sleeping. Auntie Zhang showed me the shroud, shoes, socks, and hat she had bought. I responded and said, "The old man's favorite clothes are fine."

Dr. Li came to the ward and knew that I was going to leave, and said, "The old man has come back from the dangerous edge this time, but the fluctuation is very unstable, and there will be changes at any time. Whether we can survive this winter, we really can't say. ."

After eleven o'clock, the old man woke up, recognized Ti Zhong, and tried his best to say clearly, "I want to talk..." Then he opened his mouth desperately, opened it vigorously, closed it again, but apart from gasping for breath, No sound came out. I leaned down and gently stroked his forehead: "Don't talk, don't talk. We all know..." Father closed his eyes wearily.

We waved goodbye to the old man at the next door, the old man stretched out his hands shaking, Xiaoyu said, "He asked the old lady to shake hands with you."

We hurriedly walked back, Aunt Zhang shook hands with us, the old man nodded and closed his eyes.

concluding remarks

After returning to the United States, a friend in China asked me in an e-mail: "Do you know how much Mr. Li pays for one day?"

I replied to her: "I don't think it's a problem how much my dad spends a day. The problem is that this kind of spending is based on rank, not on the individual will of everyone being equal."

When my father joined the Communist Party, he thought that the party pursued "freedom, democracy, equality, and fraternity". Lying on the hospital bed, he couldn't do anything, he could only sigh: "What should I do? This party!"

But in those last days with my father last year in the hospital, what he brought me the most was his laugh - a childlike happy and innocent laugh.

In the article recalling the process of the Three Gorges demonstration, my father said: "For decades, especially until the horse was set, I have said everything I want to say over and over again. Enough has been said. His own historical responsibility, or masturbation: 'I have spoken, I have saved my soul.'"

Heaven has eyes, and on the day when Li Rui was 101 years old, he gave Li Rui a last chance - a reporter from the Voice of America walked into his ward and left him with a swan song: "If the fault does not change, the accumulation of Bad habits..."

Li Nanyang, a mechanical engineer, left China in 1990 and worked in several scientific research institutions in the United States. After retiring in 2014, he was a visiting researcher at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Author of "I have such a mother", "My father Li Rui", "Story in a foreign country" and other books.

Li Rui's daughter sues China customs for confiscation of her father's memoirs

Zhang Yan

April 27, 2015

BEIJING — When Li Nanyang flew back here from Hong Kong two years ago, many historians and thinkers in China were expecting something from her: dozens of memoirs of her father. In his memoirs, Li Rui, a 98-year-old retired Communist Party official, unabashedly described his experiences in leadership positions as an insider.

But when Li Nanyang cleared customs at the airport, the books were confiscated by customs. More and more returning Chinese travelers have similar experiences.

The Chinese government's censorship of the Internet is well known, but its aggressive blocking of publications that will be brought into the country has received relatively little attention. Li Nanyang, who wants to change that, has filed a lawsuit in Beijing, questioning the legality of the airport confiscation. She's not sure she'll get the books back, but she's looking for something more important: an official explanation for an act of censorship.

"Li Rui is a veteran of the Communist Party," Li Nanyang said in an interview. "If he doesn't have free speech, who has?"

In a country with the largest number of internet users in the world, Li Nanyang's lawsuit may feel like it belongs to another era. But for Chinese writers and readers hoping to avoid censorship, books and other old-fashioned print publications remain an important outlet precisely because of China's sophisticated internet filters. It's also a problem for the CCP, as it tries to limit information that contradicts its whitewashed version of history.

For decades, these books have quietly flowed from Hong Kong to mainland China. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, and its people still enjoy greater freedoms. But Chinese writers and publishers say widespread censorship has intensified sharply in recent years, raising the risk of bringing banned books to the mainland.

"I feel helpless, I can't change the policy," said Yin Hongbiao, a professor at Peking University. Like many scholars in China, he publishes in Hong Kong, including some well-regarded historical works, about the devastating Cultural Revolution that Mao Zedong unleashed. But he had trouble bringing his book home.

Yin Hongbiao said his books have been confiscated by customs officials several times over the past three years, making it difficult for him to share his work with other scholars. "It's hard to avoid," he said.

Tighter border controls — known as Project Nanshan, which refers to an observation post that monitors Hong Kong at the southern tip of the mainland — include more use of X-rays to scan passenger luggage, especially for those arriving from Hong Kong by plane or train. Chinese. Authorities also notified tour guides, asking them to warn tourists who want to buy political magazines and biographies of Chinese leaders at Hong Kong bookstores.

The focus of regulation, however, is on tourists who bring a lot of books back to the mainland. Books are very easy to spot in X-ray images.

These stringent measures date back to the eve of the 2012 Communist Party meeting that brought Xi Jinping to power. Rules enacted in January of that year said all travelers from Hong Kong would have to undergo stricter baggage checks.

“Hong Kong has become a major source of politically harmful publishing,” said a widely circulated government notice. The above also stated that many of these contents were published by the United States and other Western countries, and they "distorted the history of China's revolution, the history of the Party, the history of New China and reform and opening up, and demeaned the leaders of the Party and the state."

Publishers in Hong Kong say the impact of the new rules was not immediately apparent, but it is now evident. Some say sales have plummeted as mainland tourists hear that they can no longer bring back some books or magazines with politically objectionable content.

"The impact on sales is obvious," said Bao Pu, head of New Century Publishing House. The agency has published many books on sensitive periods in Chinese history. "The controls on the publishing industry in Hong Kong have been greatly tightened."

China's customs department has great powers and can confiscate everything from pornographic publications to works that "disturb social order" or "attack the Chinese Communist Party." When confiscating a publication, however, officials rarely say which rule it violated. This ambiguity discourages tourists from bringing any books or publications into mainland China that would cause even the slightest trouble.

Li's decision to prosecute is forcing customs officials to specify what elements of his father's memoirs offended them. This puts the officials in an embarrassing position, in part because her father is still a well-known member of the Communist Party.

Despite several purges from the leadership — he worked in the countryside for about 20 years after questioning the policies that led to the famine in the late 1950s — Li Rui was rehabilitated after Mao Zedong's death and has been helping other party members They played a key role in restoring power, and some of these men are still quite powerful. However, Li Rui has often called for stronger democracy within the party and has backed a magazine that explores the less glamorous side of the party's history.

His 467-page memoir, Li Rui's Oral History, published in Hong Kong in 2013, is a continuation of that belief. Li Rui's candid account of Mao's disastrous policies and his attempts by opponents to stop him at a conference in 1959 contained details that were erased from official history. Li Rui also shared his views on officials he met at work, including most of China's top leaders.

Li Nanyang said that nearly a decade ago, the CCP asked his father not to be interviewed by foreign reporters, and he refused to participate in the lawsuit brought by her, citing his advanced age. But in February, he attended a meeting marking the 10th anniversary of Zhao Ziyang's death. Zhao Ziyang was the reformist party general secretary who was sacked before the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Li Rui spoke about the seizure of his book and the failure of the Communist Party to establish a constitutional government, according to two people present who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Nanyang Li, 65, who now lives in the San Francisco area and previously worked at the Department of Energy's national laboratory, said the lawsuit was her own personal decision to highlight the failure.

"I want people to think less like obedient and more like citizens," she said. "I want people to take responsibility and change China instead of waiting for the top to reform the system."

"I don't expect to win," she added, "but I would like to draw attention to customs practices."

Li Nanyang confirmed that she is still a Chinese citizen despite living abroad for nearly 25 years, before a Beijing court accepted her complaint in September last year. According to Chinese law, the hearing should take place within three months. But the court has repeatedly delayed the case, most recently this month.

"They can continue to delay the case," said her lawyer Xia Nan, "even if it's not in the spirit of the law."

Liu Junning, a political philosopher who has been blacklisted, believes it is unlikely that Li Nanyang will get an answer from the government.

"If the authorities want her to win, she can win," he said. "But if she wins, it will be seen as an encouragement to others."

Ian Johnson is a reporter for The New York Times.

Li Pei contributed research.



Mourning and Controversy at Li Rui's Funeral

Chu Bailiang

February 21, 2019

BEIJING — When Li Rui was alive, he was a headache for China’s ruling Communist Party for decades. He served as Mao Zedong's secretary before becoming a stubborn, sharp critic of the Communist Party. The controversy didn't stop with his death, not even his funeral.

Hundreds of people gathered in Beijing on Wednesday to say goodbye to Li Rui, who died four days ago at the age of 101. His funeral revealed tensions between the government and mourners. The government wants a quick CCP-style funeral, while mourners extol Li Rui as a traitor — even on the verge of death, slamming the authoritarian policies of China’s leader, President Xi Jinping.

Li Rui's daughter, Li Nanyang, did not attend the funeral at the Babaoshan cemetery west of Beijing. Babaoshan is the place where China's political elites were cremated and buried. Li Nanyang said his father didn't want a rigid, formal funeral with a cookie-cutter eulogy, or a "red" symbol, which gave the impression that he was still loyal to the party.

“His intention is definitely to make people remember that he is Li Rui, not a Communist Party cadre enjoying ministerial-level treatment,” Li Nanyang, who now lives in California, said by phone before the funeral.

Li Nanyang said that in his conversation with himself, his father opposed lying in a coffin covered with a party flag after his death, and also opposed any eulogy and obituary that praised him as a loyal Marxist.

"As for the party flag, my dad's wishes are very clear, because he rejects the Communist Party at all," she said. "That party flag represents that it has captured the hearts of the people."

But in the end, Li Rui's funeral was held according to party rules.

Mourners who passed by his coffin said the coffin was covered with the red flag of the Chinese Communist Party. (Foreign journalists were not allowed into the memorial hall.)

Wu Wei, a former official who knew Li Rui, said that, according to his widow and other family members, he did not object in his will to a funeral in accordance with the Communist Party. Therefore, Wu Wei said, they would not do what Li Nanyang said his father wished.

"What I want to say now is that the centenarian Li Rui has passed away, so let him go in peace," his widow Zhang Yuzhen said in a letter issued to the mourners.

Even so, the funeral has become a gathering point for those who support its desire to build a more democratic China.

This double life of Li Rui, a former senior official who joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1937 but later betrayed the party, was reflected in the hundreds of mourners who came to mourn, among them elderly cadres, or faltering, Or in wheelchairs; there are also the children of old revolutionaries, whose hair is gray; there are well-known historians, dissidents, and ordinary citizens who know him through Li Rui's books critical of Mao Zedong.

Some held handwritten slogans in tribute to Li Rui, or in brief speeches praising him as a free-thinking man who did not bow to Mao — daring to oppose the disastrous Great Leap Forward — and urging Mao’s The successor took China in a freer direction. Police and officials closely watched funeral attendees and tried to prevent foreign journalists from speaking to mourners throughout the morning.

“He is someone who dares to speak up for the people,” said Sheng Lianqi, a retired worker in his 70s who admires Li Rui’s writings even though he has never met him.

Mr. Sheng held a handwritten sign with the words "Li Rui's name lasts forever. The eyes of the common people are sharp and their minds are sober".

In the late 1950s, Li Rui entered Mao Zedong's inner circle and became one of Mao Zedong's secretaries until their relationship soured. Li Rui was fired and suffered decades of imprisonment and persecution.

But, like many purged officials, he returned to work after the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the frenzied Cultural Revolution. Many officials admired Li Rui as a reformer who tried to add youthful blood to the party and to correct the injustices of the Mao era.

Even as Chinese leaders began to loathe Li Rui's relentless criticism, they paid their respects cautiously on Wednesday. Several people who passed by Li Rui's coffin said they saw wreaths from Xi Jinping, as well as those from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other senior leaders who have retired or are still serving.

But since Li Rui's death on Saturday, the party has largely avoided making a statement and has suppressed discussions about him. State media has been silent on his death, refraining from publishing the obituaries and eulogy that usually accompany the death of a prominent official.

Many comments on the Chinese internet about Li Rui's life and death have been removed by censors. And, unusually, neither before nor at the funeral did the CCP release an official obituary about his "life".

Chinese leaders have reason to be cautious. As recently as last year on his 101st birthday, Li Rui was still sharpening his criticism of the Communist Party and Xi Jinping.

Bao Tong, a friend of Li Rui and a former official who was removed from his post, said that at the beginning, Li Rui had hoped that Xi would be a relatively moderate leader, but he was disappointed by Xi's firm policies.

"His thoughts are getting clearer and clearer," Bao Tong said by phone. "At first he felt that the problem was with the party's line, but then he felt that there was a problem with the country's entire direction, not a party's problem, but a country's problem."

Today, the CCP limits criticism of Mao Zedong. But Li Rui seems determined to have the final say. His daughter, Li Nanyang, said Li Rui donated many of his materials—including notes and letters he wrote during his decades of working for the party, as well as diaries he kept for more than 80 years—to Stanford University. The Hoover Institution, where scholars will eventually be able to study the material.

"He said that we have to figure out Mao Zedong's problem, and if we don't figure it out, it will be very harmful," Li Nanyang said. "That's what it is now."

Chris Buckley is a Beijing correspondent for The New York Times.

Albee Zhang contributed research to this article.

Translation: Cindy Hao