Hou Zongbin (; January 1929 – 14 November 2017) was a Chinese politician. He served as

Governor of Shaanxi The governor of Shaanxi, officially the Governor of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Government, is the head of Shaanxi Province and leader of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Government. The governor is elected by the Shaanxi Provincial People's ...

from 1987 to 1990, as

Party Secretary of Henan The secretary of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the Party leader, leader of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Henan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As the CCP ...

Province from 1990 to 1992, and as Deputy Secretary of the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest supervisory organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCDI is elected and supervised by the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP National Congress. ...

from 1992 to 1998.

Biography

Hou Zongbin was born in Nanhe County,

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Province in January 1929. He joined the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution, social and political revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese C ...

in October 1945 and became a member of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

in June 1946. In 1949 he went south with the victorious

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

, and served as a low-level official in the new Communist government in

Cili County Cili () is a county in Hunan Province, China under administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhangjiajie. Located in the north of Hunan and the east of Zhangjiajie, Cili County is bordered to the southeast by Taoyuan County, to the south and ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

Province, later promoted to deputy party secretary of Cili County. After 1953 he worked in

Xiangtan Xiangtan ( zh, s=湘潭) is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hunan province, south-central China. The hometowns of several founding leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, including Chairman Mao Zedong, President Liu Shaoqi, and Marshal P ...

, Hunan, and was later transferred to

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

Province and became head of the

Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...

Electric Machinery Factory. In 1983, he was appointed Deputy Governor of Gansu Province, and three years later he became

Deputy Party Secretary In modern Chinese politics, a Deputy Party Committee Secretary (; also translated as Deputy Party Secretary, deputy party chief, vice party chief) serves as the lieutenant to the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, and thus the depu ...

of Gansu. In 1987, Hou was appointed Deputy Party Secretary and Acting Governor of the neighbouring

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

Province, and became Governor in January 1988. On 22 April 1989, on the day of reformist leader

Hu Yaobang Hu Yaobang (20 November 1915 – 15 April 1989) was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the Leader of the Chinese Communist Party, top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from ...

's funeral, 40,000 students and citizens gathered in New City Square of

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, the capital of Shaanxi. Hou arrived on the scene in the afternoon trying to control the situation, but a riot broke out in the evening when three or four hundred people burned down several buildings and cars. Hou was targeted by rumours, possibly started by native Shaanxi politicians resentful of his status as political outsider from out of province, that Hou was responsible for the riot. In March 1990, Hou became the

Province. During the 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October 1992, he was elected Deputy Secretary of the

, the anti-corruption organ of the CPC. In March 1998, he became Chair of the Internal Affairs and Judicial Committee of the

9th National People's Congress The 9th National People's Congress (NPC) was in session from 1998 to 2003 across five plenary sessions. It followed the final session of the 8th National People's Congress. There were 2,979 deputies to this Congress. Background This was the f ...

. Hou was a member of the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

(1982–1987) and 14th (1987–1992) Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party.

Retirement and death

After Hou retired in December 2003, he spent his time practicing

Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely Visual arts, visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held ...

, and held several personal exhibitions of his works. In August 2017, Hou made a public statement in support of

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

's anti-corruption campaign. He died on 14 November 2017 in Beijing, aged 88. He was buried at the

Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery () is Beijing's main resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high-ranking government officials and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to soc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hou, Zongbin 1929 births 2017 deaths Governors of Shaanxi People's Republic of China politicians from Hebei Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hebei Politicians from Xingtai CCP committee secretaries of Henan Political office-holders in Gansu 20th-century Chinese calligraphers Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Deputy Communist Party secretaries of Shaanxi