Liang Boqi | Ex-leader's widow, 95

Liang Boqi, 95, whose husband was ousted as Chinese Communist Party chief after the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, has died, family friends said Thursday.

Zhao Ziyang's family told relatives and friends in a text message that Liang Boqi died peacefully at Beijing Hospital on Wednesday night. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Zhao helped promote reforms that launched China's economic boom but was purged after he called for compromise and expressed sympathy for some of the students' demands during the protests. He was accused of splitting the party and placed under house arrest after the military crushed the protests.

Liang Boqi, who married Zhao in the 1940s, accompanied Zhao in his 16 years of house arrest until he died in 2005 at age 85. - AP