Cheng Weigao (; September 1933 – December 28, 2010) was a Chinese politician, best known for his term as the

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 ...

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 between 1993 and 1998. In his late career, Cheng was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 2003 after a corruption investigation. He was demoted, but not charged. Cheng's son, Cheng Muyang (Michael Ching), lives in Vancouver, Canada as of 2015.

Biography

Cheng was born in

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trad ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...

Province. He followed his parents to neighboring

Changzhou Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provin ...

in his teenage years. He entered the

Communist Youth League The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by th ...

organization in Changzhou in 1949, and joined 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 ...

about a year later. In 1959, he became a secretary to the deputy party chief of

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provin ...

. In 1965, he was named head of the tractor factory in Changzhou. In 1972, he was transferred to work at the Shanghuang Mine. In 1980 he was named deputy mayor of Changzhou, then in 1983 named party chief of Changzhou. Cheng served as the

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

between February 1984 and July 1987, and became a member of the

provincial Party Standing Committee Members of the standing committees of the Chinese Communist Party provincial-level committees, commonly referred to as ''Shengwei Changwei'' (), make up the top ranks of the provincial-level organizations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I ...

. He was then Governor of

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 al ...

between 1988 and July 1990. Then he was transferred to become governor of

, an office he held until January 1993, when he was promoted to Party Secretary of

. He served as the provincial party chief until 1998, when he began serving as Chairman of the provincial People's Congress. In January 2003, Cheng resigned as Chairman of the Hebei People's Congress and immediately headed back to Changzhou. He then lived in a mansion-complex named ''Yuyuan'' () for the remainder of his life. In August 2003, following an investigation by 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 ...

, Cheng was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for violating party discipline by aiding and abetting activities of his son and others. He was not charged with any criminal wrongdoing, but was demoted one level from full provincial status to sub-provincial level. In 2010 he died. His death was mourned by some Changzhou residents. Until the corruption case of Hebei party chief Zhou Benshun in 2015, Cheng was the only Hebei party leader in history to have been accused of corruption-related offenses by the party's top disciplinary body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Cheng's son, Cheng Muyang (Michael Ching), lives in Vancouver, Canada as of 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Weigao 1933 births 2010 deaths People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Politicians from Suzhou Governors of Henan Governors of Hebei