Guo Shuyan (; October 1935 – 23 January 2022) was a Chinese engineer and politician. He served as Governor of Hubei from 1990 to 1993. He also served as the deputy director of the State Science and Technology Commission from 1985 to 1990 and deputy director of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee from 1993 to 2003.

Early life and education

Guo Shuyan was born in October 1935 in Zhenping County, Henan, Republic of China. He attended Nankai University in 1952, before going to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to study at the Ural Polytechnic Institute, where he earned a degree in

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

in 1959. He joined 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 1957.

Career

In 1959, in the midst of the

Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was an industrialization campaign within China from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to transform the country from an agrarian society into an indu ...

, Guo returned to China and worked at the Shenyang Manufacturing Research Institute of the First Ministry of Machine Building. He would work at the institute for nearly two decades, later rising to deputy director. From 1978 to 1982, Guo served as deputy director and Chief Engineer of the Institute of High Energy Physics of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

. He served as deputy director of the Bureau of Development Estimates of the State Science and Technology Commission from 1982 to 1983, and deputy director of the Science and Technology Leading Group of the State Council from 1983 to 1984. From 1985 to 1990, Guo served as deputy director of the State Science and Technology Commission. In this capacity, he was instrumental in introducing the Chinese-developed anti-malarial drug artemisinin to Africa. In 1990, Guo was appointed Governor and Deputy Party Secretary of

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

Province. His predecessor, Guo Zhenqian (no relation), had disagreed with Guan Guangfu, the Party Secretary of Hubei, over the ambitious “Rising Abruptly” strategy, which aimed to dramatically increase the province's economic output. However, Guo Shuyan also proved incompatible with Guan, and similarly ended his term prematurely. From 1993 to 2003, Guo Shuyan served as deputy director of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee. He also concurrently served as deputy director of the State Planning Commission from 1993 to 1998. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Vice Chairman of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the 10th National People's Congress.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guo, Shuyan 1935 births 2022 deaths Governors of Hubei People's Republic of China politicians from Henan Politicians from Nanyang, Henan Engineers from Henan Chinese metallurgists Nankai University alumni Ural State University alumni Chinese expatriates in the Soviet Union Delegates to the 10th National People's Congress Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hubei