[1] Compared with his peers, including Jiang Zemin, Qiao Shi adopted a more liberal stance in political and economic policy, promoting the rule of law and market-oriented reform of state-owned enterprises.

He adopted the nom de guerre Jiang Qiaoshi after becoming involved with underground revolutionary activities when he was sixteen years old, as was common practice at the time for young aspiring Communists.

[4][5] After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, Qiao Shi served as a leader of the Communist Youth League in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province until 1954.

[4] However, he was severely persecuted when the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, because his wife Yu Wen was a niece of Chen Bulei, a key advisor to the Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek.

[4] Under his directorship, the General Office changed its focus from class struggle to economic development, as part of the reform and opening-up policy.In 1985, Chinese spy chief Yu Qiangsheng defected to the United States, causing Politburo member and Political and Legal Affairs Commission Secretary Chen Pixian to be demoted.

Qiao Shi was then selected to fill the void, partly due to his proximity to General Secretary Hu Yaobang and earning the approval of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

[2][5] From 1987 to 1997, Qiao Shi was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, overseeing the broad portfolios of internal security, intelligence, justice, and party discipline.

[1] Most sources, including the autobiography of General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, said that Qiao Shi held an ambivalent position on how to deal with the protests.

[2] Qiao Shi managed to keep his leadership position when his Politburo colleagues Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili, who opposed the crackdown, were purged.

In the political aftermath of Tiananmen Square, Qiao Shi and Premier Li Peng were touted as two of the top candidates to lead the party.

However, Deng and many party elders felt that Li Peng was too far left and unwilling to transition China out of a planned economy to take the top job.

[7] Moreover, Qiao Shi's time as China's law enforcement chief meant that he had trusted aides staffed in key positions around the country, which was seen as a dormant threat if not an explicit challenge to Jiang's leadership.

[1] While Qiao Shi left active politics in 1998, his tenure in the highest echelons of the party and government earned him the distinction of holding the largest number of key offices compared to any of his contemporaries or any leader in succeeding generations.

[a] By virtue of his Standing Committee membership, Qiao Shi remained the top official in charge of law enforcement even during his term as the chairman of the National People's Congress.

In 2014, Qiao Shi donated 11 million yuan to the China Legal Exchange Foundation, whose goal was to promote justice and the rule of law.

It was attended by President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and all the other sitting members of the Politburo Standing Committee except for Zhang Gaoli, who at the time was away on a visit to Europe.