Tang Baolin, Historian Who Rehabilitated a Communist Party Pioneer, Dies at 87

Tang Baolin, a prominent Chinese historian who spent decades challenging rigid political orthodoxies to rehabilitate the reputation of a disgraced pioneer of the Communist Party of China, died Wednesday in Beijing. He was 87.

The death of Tang, a researcher at the Institute of Modern History under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), coincided with discussions among his peers about the May Fourth Movement — a historical epoch inseparable from the figure of Chen Duxiu. Tang is widely credited as the leading scholar responsible for clearing Chen’s name, enduring immense political pressure in the process.