Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Chinese economic reformer Zhu Rongji has died

R.I.P.

I am not very familiar with his biography, but he was perhaps one of the reformers that modernized China and contributed to its economic success.

"... Born in Changsha, Hunan, Zhu became a member of the CCP in 1949, the same year the People's Republic of China was established. He worked in the State Planning Commission between 1952 and 1958, and criticized CCP leader Mao Zedong's economic policies during the Hundred Flowers Campaign in 1957, causing him to being labeled as a "rightist" in the subsequent Anti-Rightist Campaign, leading Zhu to be demoted and expelled from the CCP.
He was sent to work at a remote cadre school afterwards. He was pardoned, though not politically rehabilitated in 1962, after the famine caused by the Great Leap Forward, being again assigned at the State Planning Commission. He was purged again during the Cultural Revolution, where he was sent for re-education to a May Seventh Cadre School.

After Mao's death in 1976 and the rise of Deng Xiaoping afterwards, Zhu was politically rehabilitated and allowed to rejoin the CCP.
He worked in the Ministry of Petroleum from 1976 to 1979, and joined the State Economic Commission, successor of the State Planning Commission, in 1979;
he served as the vice minister of the commission from 1983 to 1987.
In 1988, he became the mayor of Shanghai, where he pursued economic reforms.
He worked with Shanghai CCP secretary Jiang Zemin, who he succeeded as Shanghai CCP secretary in 1989, when Jiang was promoted to CCP general secretary. ..."

Zhu Rongji, China’s chief engineer of economic reform and former premier, dies aged 97 "Zhu, who rose to become premier, spearheaded China’s entry into the World Trade Organization"

Zhu Rongji - Wikipedia




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