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

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

Province from 1987 to 1990, as

Communist Party Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is a ...

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 internal control institution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), tasked with enforcing internal rules and regulations and combating corruption and malfeasance in the pa ...

from 1992 to 1998.

Biography

Hou Zongbin was born in Nanhe County,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

Province in January 1929. He joined the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (RO ...

in October 1945 and became a member of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

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

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the 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 a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

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

Xiangtan Xiangtan () 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 Peng Dehuai, a ...

, Hunan, and was later transferred to

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...

Province and became head of the

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest 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. H ...

Electric Machinery Factory. In 1983, he was appointed Deputy Governor of Gansu Province, and three years later he became Deputy Party Secretary of Gansu. In 1987, Hou was appointed Deputy Party Secretary and Acting Governor of the neighbouring

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 high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as Gen ...

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

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

, 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 The 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (Traditional Chinese: 中國共產黨第十四次全國代表大會) was convened from October 12 - 18, 1992. It was preceded by the 13th 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 () was in session from 1998 to 2003. It held five plenary sessions in this period. It followed the final session of the 8th National People's Congress. There were 2,979 deputies to this Congress. Election resul ...

. Hou was a member of the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

(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 art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held in high este ...

, 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, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...

'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 government officials and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to society. In ...

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 People's Republic of China 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