 He was selected as the Beijing Party Secretary in 1991 after Li Ximing fell out of favour because of his opposition to Deng's economic reforms.Conversations with Chen Xitong

In 2012, a book titled "Conversations with Chen Xitong" based on interviews with Chen, authored by Yao Jianfu, a retired journalist of the Xinhua News Agency, with a foreword by Wu Guoguang was published by New Century Press.In this book Chen sought to challenge the idea that he played an important part in the crackdown.