China’s economic reform pioneer Li Yining dies at 92

Shanghai, China, Feb 28 (EFE).- Li Yining, one of the most influential economists during the period when China began to reform and open up its economy in the late 1970s, has died at the age of 92, official news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

The economist, who was widely known as “Mr Stock Market Li” due to his contribution in the establishment of China’s stock markets in 1990, passed away on Monday night.

Li had been a professor at Peking University ever since he graduated from there in 1955.

He was persecuted as a “rightist” just two years later and also sent to a village to do manual work during the Maoist Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

After his rehabilitation in 1978, Li gained notoriety for his support for economic reform policies.

Seven years later, he founded the prestigious Guanghua School of Management of Peking University and served as its first dean.

The academic, also sometimes dubbed the “Keynes of China” due to the influence of his ideas in the transformation of the world’s second largest economy, was also a part of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature between 1988 and 2002. EFE

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