Liu Qibao ( zh , s = 刘奇葆 , p = Liú Qíbǎo ; born January 1953) is a Chinese retired politician. He was a member of the

18th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party The 18th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), formally the Political Bureau of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was elected at the 1st plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the CCP on 15 November 2 ...

, a Secretary of the

Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party The Secretariat, officially the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a body serving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Politburo and Standing Committee. The secretariat is mainly responsible for carrying out ...

, as well as the head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee. Previously Liu have served as the party chief of the

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

Zhuang Autonomous Region and

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

province. He also served as one of the vice chairmen of 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference between 2018 and 2023.

Early life and education

Liu Qibao was born in a village near the banks of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

in Susong County,

Anhui Province Anhui is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiangxi to the south, Hub ...

in 1953, the second of four children. After graduating from high school Liu worked on a farm. Liu joined the Communist Party in December 1971 and next year joined its Communist Youth League (CYL). He attended Anhui Normal University as a " Worker-Peasant-Soldier student" where he was a student of history at the Department of History.

Career

After graduating in 1974, Liu Qibao was a cadre at the Theoretical Research Office of the Department of Publicity, CPC Anhui Provincial Committee. Following it, he eventually became secretary to

Wan Li Wan Li (December 1916 – 15 July 2015) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician who served as First Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1983 to 1988 and the 5th Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peo ...

, then provincial Party Secretary of Anhui. In 1980, Wan Li was transferred to work for the central authorities in Beijing. Liu was sent to work for the CYL Anhui Provincial Committee, where he gained rapid career advancement. He led propaganda and ideology work at the CYL, eventually rising to lead the provincial CYL organization. In February 1984, he became mayor of Suzhou, Anhui, a city with jurisdiction over some four million people, at only 31 years old. In November 1985, he was transferred to the CYL national organization, where he worked alongside future leaders Liu Yandong,

Li Keqiang Li Keqiang ( zh, s=李克强, p=Lǐ Kèqiáng; 3 July 1955 – 27 October 2023) was a Chinese economist and politician who served as the seventh premier of China from 2013 to 2023. He was also the second-ranked member of the Politburo Standing ...

, and Li Yuanchao. Since then he has been identified by some observers as part of the "''

tuanpai The Tuanpai (), or Youth League Faction, is a term used by political observers and analysts to describe an informal political faction in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which includes cadres and government officials who originated from the C ...

''", or "Youth League faction". Liu left the Youth League in 1993 to serve as the deputy chief editor of ''

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' ( zh, s=人民日报, p=Rénmín Rìbào) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple lan ...

'', then he worked under

Luo Gan Luo Gan (; born July 18, 1935) is a retired Chinese politician. Between 2002 and 2007, Luo was one of China's top leaders, serving as a member of the nine-man Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and as the Secretary of ...

and Wang Zhongyu as deputy Secretary-General of the State Council. Additionally he took on leading roles in the

offices An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

for the State Council task force on information technology, and the Central Commission for Spiritual Civilization. Liu served as the Communist Party chief of

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( Hà Giang, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, and Quảng Ninh Provinces) and the ...

beginning in 2006 and remained in that office for roughly a year. He was appointed Sichuan's Communist Party Secretary in December 2007. He was selected to be the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress on January 27, 2008. He served as the chief of 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 ...

Sichuan Committee, the province's top leader from 2008 to 2012. At the 18th Party Congress held in November 2012, Liu was promoted to the

, and named head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee, succeeding

Liu Yunshan Liu Yunshan (; zh, s=刘云山, t=劉雲山, p=Liú Yúnshān; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the top decision-making body of the CCP, between 2 ...

(no relation), who became a member of the

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

. In 2017 Qibao met with

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece. On the 100th anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

in 2017, Liu stated that the revolution had "opened an unprecedented new model of modernization in world history" which allowed the USSR to transform from a "state of small peasants" to a world-class industrial power. According to Liu, the historical achievements of the revolution and the Soviet socialist system "are by no means canceled out by the

dissolution of the USSR Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dissolution'', a 2002 novel by Richard Lee Byers in the War of the Spider Queen series * Dissolution (Sansom novel), ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), by C. J. Sansom, 2003 * Dissolution (Binge no ...

." At the 19th Party Congress held in October 2017, Liu was unable to secure a Politburo seat even though he had not yet reached the conventional retirement at the age of 68. He held onto a seat on the Central Committee, however. On March 14, 2018, he was named one of the vice-chairmen of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

References

External links

Biography

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...

(November 2012)
Who's Who in China's Leadership
China.org.cn (November 2012) , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Qibao 1953 births Politicians from Anqing Chinese Communist Party politicians from Anhui Living people Anhui Normal University alumni Heads of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party People's Republic of China politicians from Anhui Political office-holders in Sichuan Political office-holders in Guangxi Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 18th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Alternates of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Delegates to the 11th National People's Congress Delegates to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party