Wu Guanzheng (born August 11, 1938), also spelled as Wu Kuan-cheng is a former Chinese politician and one of the major leaders of the

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

during the administration of

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

. He served on the

Politburo Standing Committee The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...

, the country's top ruling body, from 2002 to 2007. During that time he also served as the

Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China is the head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The Secretary is a very important political position, serving as one of the top lea ...

of the

, the party's anti-graft body. He had a lengthy political career, having served as mayor of

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, 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 List of cities in China ...

, Governor then Party Secretary of Jiangxi, then party chief of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

. Wu retired in 2007 and left public life.

Career

Wu was born in

Yugan County Yugan County () is a county in the north of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China, containing part of the southern end of Poyang Lake. It is the westernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Shangrao. Administrative div ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

province. He joined the

in March 1963. Wu graduated from the department of thermal engineering at Beijing's

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

in 1968, where he studied thermal measurement and automated controls. He was then sent to

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 goal ...

to work as a shop floor technician at the Gedian Chemical Engineering factory, where he was promoted to supervisor a few years later. Wu served as the mayor of

from 1983 to 1986. He became the governor of his native province

in 1986 after the removal of Ni Xiance by the provincial People's Congress. He was later promoted to Jiangxi party chief and served between 1995 and 1997. He moved to

in 1997 to become the party chief of the province and was made a full member of the Politburo the same year. It was said that

Zeng Qinghong Zeng Qinghong (born 30 July 1939) is a retired Chinese politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, China's highest leadership council, and top-ranked member of the Secretariat of the Central ...

, a major confidant of then party General Secretary and President

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pres ...

, was fond of Wu's work, and recommended him for further elevation, resulting in his promotion to the Politburo in 1997. Thereafter, Wu was known to have cultivated good relationships with both Jiang Zemin and his putative successor

. Wu and Hu graduated in the same year, both of them alumni of Tsinghua University. Some sources considered him to be Hu's ally, while other consider him to be Jiang's. As a result, he was sometimes included in the list of people in the

Shanghai clique The Shanghai clique (), also referred to as the Shanghai gang, Jiang clique, or Jiang faction, refers to an informal group of Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) officials who rose to prominence under former CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin while he ...

. In 2002, Wu joined the

as the head 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 par ...

, the party's anti-graft agency. Wu was seen as an easy compromise candidate since he had "cross-factional appeal". Wu Guanzheng retired from Standing Committee and Central Commission for Discipline Inspection after the 17th Party Congress in October 2007.

External links

Wu Guanzheng biography @ China Vitae, online database of China VIPs

People's Daily Online The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language e ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Guanzheng 1938 births Living people Governors of Jiangxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangxi Mayors of Wuhan Tsinghua University alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangxi Politicians from Shangrao Political office-holders in Shandong Secretaries of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Members of the 16th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 15th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party

Career

See also

External links

References