Li Rui (April 13, 1917 - February 16, 2019) was a CCP history expert and former secretary of Mao Zedong. Li graduated from high school in 1934 and was admitted to the Mechanical Department of the School of Engineering at the National Wuhan University in the same year. From 1936, Li became involved in a secret student group in Wuhan, which was affiliated with the CCP, before leaving Wuhan University in May 1937 to join the CCP, and worked on publicity. Between 1948 and 1949, he served as a political secretary to the CCP leaders Gao Gang and Chen Yun. From August 1949, Li served as editor-in-chief of the New Hunan newspaper and as propaganda minister of Hunan Province. In 1952, he was transferred to Beijing as director of the General Bureau of Water and Electricity Construction, and in 1958 he was appointed a correspondence secretary between Mao Zedong and the Ministry of Water Resources. That same year, he became vice-minister of the Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity.
In 1959, Li was labeled a Right Opportunist for questioning the Great Leap Forward, and was dismissed from the Party in March 1960, and exiled to a labor camp in northeastern China, before being transferred back to Beijing at the end of 1961. In 1967, Li was sent to Qincheng Prison and jailed in isolation for eight years for reporting on one of the leaders of the Cultural Revolution, Chen Boda. In 1979, Li was rehabilitated and became secretary of the Ministry of Electric Power Industry. From 1982 to 1984, he served as executive vice minister of the Organization Department of the CCP and director of the Young Cadres Bureau, and later as head of a leading group on CCP history, in charge of compilation of CCP’s organizational history. He retired in June 1995. Li passed away on Feb. 16, 2019 in Beijing due to illnesses.
Li published more than 30 books, some of which were on water resources, including *On the Three Gorges Project*. Li was an opponent of the Three Gorges Project, and in his article "*Accountable to History: Memories of the Launching of the Three Gorges Project*", Li discussed in detail the decision-making process of the project, as well as its potential social, economic, and ecological impacts. Li is the author of several books on CCP history, including *Records of the Lushan Conference*, *The Great Leap Forward: An Intimate Memoir*, and *Mao Zedong's Merits and Wrongs*. In addition, he was a supporter of the reformist magazine *Yanhuang Chunqiu (China through the Ages)*, where he served as an advisor and published dozens of articles.
In 1959, Li was labeled a Right Opportunist for questioning the Great Leap Forward, and was dismissed from the Party in March 1960, and exiled to a labor camp in northeastern China, before being transferred back to Beijing at the end of 1961. In 1967, Li was sent to Qincheng Prison and jailed in isolation for eight years for reporting on one of the leaders of the Cultural Revolution, Chen Boda. In 1979, Li was rehabilitated and became secretary of the Ministry of Electric Power Industry. From 1982 to 1984, he served as executive vice minister of the Organization Department of the CCP and director of the Young Cadres Bureau, and later as head of a leading group on CCP history, in charge of compilation of CCP’s organizational history. He retired in June 1995. Li passed away on Feb. 16, 2019 in Beijing due to illnesses.
Li published more than 30 books, some of which were on water resources, including *On the Three Gorges Project*. Li was an opponent of the Three Gorges Project, and in his article "*Accountable to History: Memories of the Launching of the Three Gorges Project*", Li discussed in detail the decision-making process of the project, as well as its potential social, economic, and ecological impacts. Li is the author of several books on CCP history, including *Records of the Lushan Conference*, *The Great Leap Forward: An Intimate Memoir*, and *Mao Zedong's Merits and Wrongs*. In addition, he was a supporter of the reformist magazine *Yanhuang Chunqiu (China through the Ages)*, where he served as an advisor and published dozens of articles.
