Ren Zhongyi
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Ren Zhongyi (; September 1914 – November 15, 2005) was a Chinese politician.


Biography

Ren was born in Wei County, Handan,
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
province. He was a leader in China's reform period since the late 1970s. He is widely regarded as the bold reformer who led
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
to come 'one step ahead' in China's reform. He served as the First
Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
Party secretary of
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
,
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
(1956–1977), the First Party Secretary of
Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...
province (1977–1980), and the First Party Secretary of Guangdong (1980–1985). After he retired, Ren Zhongyi remained active in public affairs and was bold and outspoken. He was amongst a few influential people in China who still publicly advocated political reform. One example is his iconoclastic article in the May 5, 2000 issue of the Guangdong-based national newspaper ''
Southern Weekly ''Southern Weekly'' () is a Chinese weekly newspaper based in Guangzhou, and is a sister publication of the newspaper '' Nanfang Daily''. From the 1990s to the early 2010s, the newspaper was renowned for its investigative journalism, liberal ...
'', which sought to re-interpret Deng Xiaoping's theory of the Four Cardinal Principles (upholding the socialist path; upholding the people's democratic dictatorship; upholding the leadership of the Communist Party and upholding Marxist Leninsm Mao Zedong Thought) in order to create more room for democratic reforms. For example, on the principle of upholding the leadership of the Communist Party, he wrote: ''"Improving the leadership of the Party means establishing a system that can effectively supervise and constrain the Party. Deng Xiaoping thought that the absence of constraints on the Party was dangerous. The Party needs to be led well but it needs to be supervised as well.'' ''"I believe this is a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Communist Party is no exception to that rule. The Communist Party supervising itself is like having the left hand supervise the right hand. That just won't do. The Party needs to be supervised not just by the Party but by the people, the democratic party groupings and by independent persons. Not only must it be subject to the supervision of society and public opinion, it must be constrained by law as well."'' Due to the degree of reputation and influence that he had, the Party leaders could only tolerate and to some extent accommodate his views, whilst at the same time using other means (such as sacking the editors who published his views in their magazines) to minimise the effect of his speeches. Ren Zhongyi was first and foremost a pragmatic politician, instead of being a rigid ideologue attached to the faith of dogmatic
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
-
Leninism Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...
and
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
. This is in fact true for many outstanding reformers at the time, such as
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
,
Hu Yaobang Hu Yaobang (20 November 1915 – 15 April 1989) was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the Leader of the Chinese Communist Party, top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from ...
,
Zhao Ziyang Zhao Ziyang; pronounced (17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a Chinese politician. He served as the 3rd premier of China from 1980 to 1987, as vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1982, and as the CCP general ...
,
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 ...
, Xiang Nan etc. Chen Shiji, former head of the PLA Air Force Propaganda Department of the Guangzhou Military District, in his 2009 article "Unforgettable Ren Zhongyi" called this 2000 article in Southern Weekend an example of Ren's clear thinking, determination to put to rest the remnants of Cultural Revolution thinking, and his conviction that Marxism must allow for change and progress.


Family

One of Ren Zhongyi's grandsons, Ren Yi, a
Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...
alumnus, is a Chinese blogger who writes under the name of Chairman Rabbit.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ren, Zhongyi 1914 births 2005 deaths Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hebei Politicians from Handan People's Republic of China politicians from Hebei Governors of Liaoning Political office-holders in Guangdong Members of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party