Qin Benli, and his newspaper's links to the reformist faction in the Communist Party, in particular
Zhao Ziyang, were widely known in political circles at the time. After the Tiananmen massacre,
Chen Xitong, the mayor of
Beijing, claimed that there was a "conspiracy" between the
Herald, the protesting students, and Zhao Ziyang. The entire publication re-organized and Benli was dismissed from the newspaper on April 26, 1989, amidst student protests in Beijing and Shanghai. The ire of local authorities, specifically
Jiang Zemin, had been drawn by the publication of six pages of reminiscences and discussion after the death, on April 15, of Hu Yaobang, the former Communist leader who had been ousted by party hardliners. The previous January, the newspaper, under Qin's guidance, had also published an article by a scholar in Beijing which criticized the party. These events led a team of five censors to set up office inside the newspaper, reviewing all material before it went to press. In the announcement by the
Shanghai municipal government that Qin had been dismissed from the paper, he was charged with "serious violations of discipline." Qin Benli died of stomach cancer on April 16, 1991, at age 73, only two years after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The authorities did not publicly announce the death out of concerns that it would trigger a public tribute or mourning, which took place around the death of
Hu Yaobang and others. They also accorded him a private ward in one of Shanghai's best hospitals, so as to reduce blowback that they were responsible for his death. Qin was allowed to see his wife in hospital, but not foreigners or groups of friends. == References ==