Yan Mingfu

Yan did not reappear in Chinese politics until 1991, when he was named vice minister of Civil Affairs. The promotion occurred almost exactly two years after the June 4 Massacre, but a New York Times article claims that Yan and other recently rehabilitated officials “did not mention their 1989 political disgrace or say why they were given new jobs.” According to Josephine Ma, Yan “lost his political clout” in 1996 and retired from all government work, although he remained involved in charity work and continued to serve as chairman of China's Charity Association. In 2007, Yan became China's chief negotiator with Taiwan for a brief period. While Yan's promotion to vice minister of Civil Affairs indicated that he was “partially rehabilitated,” Ma reports that “observers” regarded his tenure as chief negotiator as “the famous liberal’s full rehabilitation.” Apart from these positions, Yan has maintained a “low profile” since his retirement. In November 2018, former Chinese primer Wen Jiabao visited him in hospital at his 87th birthday.

Yan was born in Liaoning province in 1931. In 1949, he graduated from the Harbin Foreign Language College. He then became the official Russian translator for Mao Zedong, before being promoted to a high-ranking party position sometime in the late 1950s. During the Cultural Revolution he was arrested and did not reappear in a state position until 1985. His father, Yan Baohang, had been a member of both the Kuomintang and the CCP. Before Yan Mingfu was appointed head of the United Front Work Department in 1985, his father had held the position from the department's inception during the Chinese Civil War. When students began protesting China's corruption and economic problems after the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, Yan was also serving as a Secretary in the 13th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.

Yan Mingfu (Chinese: 阎明复; pinyin: Yán Míngfù; born November 1931) is a retired Chinese politician. His first prominent role in government began in 1985, when he was made leader of the United Front Work Department for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He held the position until the CCP expelled him for inadequately following the party line in his dialogues with students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Yan returned to government work in 1991 when he became a vice minister of Civil Affairs.