What Xi hopes to gain from tapping into his predecessor’s legacy

For many older Chinese and longtime China watchers, it was a jarring moment.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, seated in front of a giant red curtain, was reading a speech last week praising his 1980s predecessor – the late revolutionary and Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang – considered one of the boldest reformers of China’s post-Mao era.

Mr. Hu’s death in April 1989 unleashed an outpouring of grief that helped trigger nationwide protests for political liberalization, centered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Those demonstrations ended with the deadly military crackdown of June 4, 1989.

Why We Wrote This

What does it mean when Xi Jinping – China’s strongman leader – praises Hu Yaobang, the liberal reformer whose sudden death sparked the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests? Our reporter