On this Day in Chinese History; 6 January

This day, 6 January, in 1972, Marshal Chen Yi, Vice Premier of the State Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, passed away. Chen had a distinctive personality with broad ideas, profound knowledge and keen eyesight. At a press conference in 1963, foreign reporters asked him what mysterious weapon China had used to shoot down a U-2 aircraft. Chen replied, “We stabbed it down with a bamboo pole”.