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

during the administration of

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

. He served on 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 ...

, 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 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, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

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

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. Wu retired in 2007 and left public life.

Career

Wu was born in Yugan County,

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

province to a poor peasant family. He joined the

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

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

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 Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

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, 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, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

, 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 ( zh, s=上海帮, t=上海幫, p=Shànghǎi bāng), 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 ...

. 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 supervisory organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCDI is elected and supervised by the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP National Congress. ...

, the party's anti-graft agency. Wu was seen as an easy compromise candidate since he had "cross-factional appeal". During Wu's time in office on leading CCDI, Shanghai Party Secretary

Chen Liangyu Chen Liangyu (; born October 24, 1946, in Shanghai) is a Chinese politician best known for his tenure as the Party Secretary of Shanghai, the city's top office, and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, from 2002 to 2006 ...

has been investigated and arrested by CCDI. 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 People's Daily Online is a state media company controlled by the People's Daily Press, the publisher of the ''People's Daily'', the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Formerly the online version of the ' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Guanzheng 1938 births Living people 20th-century mayors of places in China 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