Zhou Qiang (; born 25 April 1960) is a Chinese politician who is a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Previously, he served as the

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

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 ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

committee, the effective head of the province of Hunan. He served as the province's

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

between 2007 and 2010. Zhou also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Youth League of China between 1998 and 2006. Between 2018 and 2023, he served as the

president of the Supreme People's Court The president of the Supreme People's Court is the head of the Supreme People's Court and is the highest-ranking official in the Chinese judiciary. Under the current constitution, the president of the SPC is appointed by and serves at the pleasu ...

Life and career

Born in Huangmei County, Hubei Province, Zhou grew up 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 ...

. In 1978, he was part of the first batch of students admitted through the National College Entrance Examinations to the Southwest University of Political Science & Law. Zhou obtained a master's degree in law in 1986. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during his studies, in 1983. In November 1995, he was elected secretary of the central secretariat of the Chinese Communist Youth League (CYL) at the 4th plenary session of the 13th CYL central committee. In June 1998, he was elevated to first secretary of the CYL central secretariat, and was re-elected in July 2003. In February 2007, Zhou was appointed governor of Hunan, after a five-month period that saw him made a standing committee member and vice secretary of the CCP Hunan committee (September 3), and then acting governor of

(September 30), appointed by the standing committee of the 10th Hunan People's Congress; he resigned as first secretary of the central secretariat of the CYL in December. He was re-elected governor of Hunan on January 24, 2008. On April 25, 2010, Zhou, then aged 50, was appointed Party Secretary of Hunan, becoming one of the youngest provincial party chiefs in the country. His rise to power is comparable to that of then-Party general secretary

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 ...

and then-Vice-Premier Li Keqiang; all three men had background in the

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

President of the Supreme People's Court

In March 2013, the NPC installed Zhou as the

. Like other top Chinese leaders, Zhou spoke often of promoting the 'rule of law' and was thought to be aligned with CCP general secretary

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

's stated ambition to make the court system in China fairer. Indeed, in his first few years in office, Zhou overturned several court decisions as unjust, including the wrongful execution of Nie Shubin in 1995; granted judges more independence; and restricted local officials' influence over court rulings, although ultimately courts at all levels had to answer to the party leadership.China's Top Judge Warns Against the ‘Threat’ of Judicial Independence
, Global Voices, 20 January 2017. But in 2017, speaking at a Supreme People's Court meeting on January 14, Zhou warned the courts against the 'idea of

judicial independence Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

'. He said:

hina's courtsmust firmly resist the western idea of "
constitutional democracy A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of Legal entity, entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. Wh ...
", "
separation of powers The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operat ...
" and "judicial independence". These are erroneous western notions that threaten the leadership of the ruling Communist Party and defame the Chinese socialist path on the rule of law. We have to raise our flag and show our sword to struggle against such thoughts. We must not fall into the trap of western thoughts and judicial independence. We must stay firm on the Chinese socialist path on the rule of law.

This tougher line was interpreted as self-protection amid a CCP power struggle ahead of the

19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics Nineteen is the eighth prime number. Number theory 19 forms a twin prime with 17, a cousin prime with 23, and a sexy prime with 13 ...

. Zhou was a member of the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Central Committees of the CCP.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou, Qiang 1960 births Living people People's Republic of China politicians from Hubei Tuanpai Politicians from Huanggang Governors of Hunan First secretaries of the Communist Youth League of China Southwest University of Political Science & Law alumni Presidents of the Supreme People's Court Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hubei People from Huangmei County 20th-century Chinese judges 21st-century Chinese judges Members of the Standing Committee of the 9th National People's Congress Delegates to the 10th National People's Congress Delegates to the 11th National People's Congress Members of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Delegates to the 13th National People's Congress Members of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party