During the 1989 democracy movement, "World Economic Herald" published a politically sensitive article about the leadership and was reorganized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee. In September 1989, the CCP Central Committee Publicity Department and the National Press and Publication Administration held a meeting in Beijing "Regarding Work to Implement Reduction of Publications". At the meeting, it was stated that "World Economic Herald" must be suspended, and the CCP Shanghai Municipal Committee agreed to revoke the "World Economic Herald"'s registration. In September 1990, "World Economic Herald" was officially shut down.

"World Economic Herald" was founded in 1980 by Qin Benli, deputy director of the Institute of World Economy at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. In April 1989, "World Economic Herald" published content from a symposium that had been held in memory of Hu Yaobang on April 19; the content included mention of the unfair political treatment faced by Hu Yaobang. Jiang Zemin, then-secretary of the CCP Shanghai Municipal Committee, demanded that the article be withdrawn, but was refused by editor-in-chief Qin. On April 26th, the Shanghai Municipal Committee resolved to withdraw Qin's appointment and sent a working group to the newspaper to implement reorganization. As the matter infringed on freedom of the press, many journalists and intellectuals came out to protest. This caused the 1989 democracy movement spread more rapidly to include journalistic, cultural, and intellectual circles.

After Beijing declared martial law in late May, the situation became increasingly tense; the "World Economic Herald" editorial department could no longer operate normally. In order to prevent "World Economic Herald" from becoming a CCP mouthpiece, Qin announced that "World Economic Herald" would cease publication. After the June 4th crackdown, Qin was placed under house arrest. On April 15th, 1991, two years after Hu Yaobang's death, Qin Benli died of stomach cancer at age 73. Before his death, he wrote his last words: "The spirit of the 'Herald' will not die."

References: "The Big Bang of History: A Complete Record of the June 4th Incident"; "The Tiananmen Papers"; [自由亞洲電台("Radio Free Asia")(Chinese)] (https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/ear/ear-xin-06232021051003.html); 維基文庫("Wikisource")(Chinese); [眾新聞("Citizen News")(Chinese)] (https://www.hkcnews.com/article/20062/欽本立-世界經濟導報-六四30周年-20062/【六四30周年】1989年4月24日：《世界經濟導報》事件-「我們都是欽本立」)