Bao Zunxin, 70; jailed for Tiananmen Square protest

Bao Zunxin, an activist who was jailed for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement, has died, a fellow dissident said Monday. He was 70.

Once considered one of China’s leading intellectuals, Bao died Sunday in Beijing from a brain hemorrhage, said Liu Xiaobo, a former professor at Beijing Normal University who also spent 20 months in jail for joining the 1989 protests.

Formerly a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ history institute, Bao edited a series of influential publications during the 1980s that promoted Western social science theories.

He was arrested in July 1989 and sentenced to five years in jail on Jan. 26, 1991, for antigovernment crimes during the student-led protests that were violently suppressed by the Chinese military. Bao was released on probation after serving nearly 3 1/2 years.

At the time of his release, it was reported that he was in poor health with heart disease, high blood pressure and other ailments. He was believed to have attempted suicide several times while imprisoned, a source quoted by the U.S.-based human rights group Asia Watch said in 1992.

Bao spoke out in support of students after they began marching, and signed a declaration that said China still was ruled by an emperor, a reference to Deng Xiaoping, then the senior Communist Party leader.

He also was one of the signatories of the open letter sent to the Chinese government last summer urging Beijing to implement human rights reforms in advance of next year’s Olympic Games, which will be held in the Chinese city.