Zhou Ji (; born August 26, 1946) is a Chinese mechanical engineer and politician. He served as China's Minister of Education from 2003 to 2009 and President of the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

from 2010 to 2018. Prior to that, served briefly as Mayor of

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...

, the capital of

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

Province.

Biography

Zhou is a native of Shanghai, and attended

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

in Beijing, where he graduated from in 1970, and received M.E. degree in mechanical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1980. Zhou also acquired a doctorate from the

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

(PhD, '84, M.S.'81) in the United States. Much of his early career was spent at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in

, where he eventually rose to become the president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1997. He was elected as the fellow of the

in 1999. He then spent a tenure in the municipal government of Wuhan, where he served as deputy mayor and Mayor. He was transferred to work in the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China in 2002 as its Vice-Minister, rising to the Minister position on March 17, 2003. At the re-elections of the 2008 National People's Congress, Zhou received the fewest votes in favour out of any minister. He received 384 votes against, with 81 abstentions.港报：袁贵仁有望接任中国教育部长
During Zhou's time in office, China's education system continued to be plagued by

academic dishonesty Academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, academic fraud and academic integrity are related concepts that refer to various actions on the part of students that go against the expected norms of a school, university or other learning institution. D ...

, corruption, and arbitrary fees, with no discernible signs of improvement. Zhou was also unpopular due to his introduction of 16 "officially sanctioned" educational

Peking Opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

works, some of which allegedly included themes similar to those during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. These works were openly opposed by members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March 2009. He was removed in October 2009 at a regular session of the National People's Congress; he was replaced by deputy Yuan Guiren. He was instead appointed deputy party secretary at the

in Beijing, a "less important but still significant post," according to the ''

Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to r ...

''."News Analysis: What the Shakeup in China's Education Ministry Could Mean for Reform" by Nara Hvistendah
link
Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 4, 2009. Stanley Rosen, director of the East Asian Studies Center at the University of Southern California, commented that Mr. Zhou's new post does not suggest serious punishment, and is "a sign that he's a scapegoat, not that he's corrupt." Due to the contribution in numeric control, computer-aided design, and design optimization, he was selected as the foreign associate of the United States

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 2013. In 2018 he was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK.

References

External links

Biography at China Vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Ji 1946 births Living people Mayors of Wuhan Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Ministers of Education of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China politicians from Shanghai Tsinghua University alumni University at Buffalo alumni Presidents of Huazhong University of Science and Technology Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Chinese mechanical engineers Foreign associates of the National Academy of Engineering

Biography

See also

References

External links