Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin was re-elected General Secretary
of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the First Plenary Session of the15th
CPC Central Committee following the last CPC National Congressin this century.
His re-election as head of the world's largest ruling party with 58 million
members is viewed as the measure of the confidence of the Chinese people he
enjoys.
Over the past eight years when Jiang served as the top leader of the Party,
China has been in a period featuring "most stable political situation, the
strongest national strength, the most active diplomatic activities and the most
remarkable improvement in the people's life," said a local analyst.
Overseas press commented that the prestige of CPC's third generation leadership
is just the kind of prestige that could be expected from a country where economy
has registered double-digits growth for more than a decade.
Jiang officially took over the post of Party General Secretary in June, 1989
when China faced great difficulties, politically,economically and
diplomatically.
In just two years, Jiang succeeded in bringing about big changes in the
situation. The GNP grew steadily at an average annual rate of 12.1 percent, the
fastest in the world.
Jiang was elected President of the People's Republic of China in March 1993 and
continued to serve for another term as Chairman of the Central Military
Commission. His status as the core of the leadership is attributable to his
outstanding achievements, ability and a steady and down-to-earth style of work.
Born on August 17, 1926, of an intellectual family in Yangzhou, a culturally
famous city in east China's Jiangsu Province,Jiang received his higher education
in the prestigious Shanghai Jiaotong University and his major was electrical
engineering.
Both his grandfather and father were noted local scholars.
During his college years, Jiang participated in the CPC-led students movements
and joined the Communist Party of China in 1946.
After the founding of New China, Jiang served as associate engineer, deputy
director of a factory, section head of an enterprise. In 1955, He went to the
then Soviet Union and worked in the Stalin Automobile Works as a trainee for one
year. After his return home,he served as deputy division head, deputy chief
power engineer, director of a branch factory, and deputy director, director of
factories and research institutes in Changchun, Shanghai and Wuhan.
In the ensuing years, Jiang served as deputy,then director of foreign affairs
department of the No. 1 Ministry of Machine-Building Industry. He speaks good
English, Russian and Romanian, and knows some Japanese and French.
Before he became Shanghai Mayor in 1985, Jiang served as minister of Electronics
Industry.
His unique career experiences have enabled him to observe and solve
problems from the perspectives of profound relations between China and the
world.
Jiang was the first planner of Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone (SEZ).
In 1979 when the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping proposed to build SEZs in
China, Jiang was the first to settle concrete matters in Shenzhen on behalf of
the central government. He was then serving as deputy director and concurrently
secretary general of the State Import and Export Administration and the State
Foreign Investment Administration. Facing the wilderness, Jiang put forward his
guiding ideas that had a far-reaching effect on Shenzhen's construction in the
following years. "All construction projects in the SEZ should be started
from a long-term point of view and in line with international standards."
The development of Shenzhen over the past 10 years and more has testified to the
correctness of his ideas.
Soon after Jiang became Shanghai mayor in 1985,he planned a series of key
infrastructure projects using overseas capitals.The city raised 3.2 billion US
dollars from international capital market,of which 1.4 billion dollars were
poured into such key projects as the city's subway, Nanpu Bridge, polluted water
treatment, airport expansion and program-controlled telephone exchanges. People
are stunned by the profound changes that have taken place in Shanghai.
Jiang was elected member of the 12th CPC Central Committee in September of 1982.
In November, 1987, Jiang was elected memberof the Political Bureau at the First
Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee. He was elected member of the
Standing Committee of the Political Bureau in June of 1989 at the Fourth Plenary
Session of the 13th Central Committee, general secretary of the CPC Central
Committee. Five months later, he was elected chairman of the CPC Central
Military Commission at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee.
At the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress, he was elected
chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
At the first Plenary Session of the 14th Central Committee, he was re-elected
member of its Central Committee, member of the Political Bureau, memberof its
Standing Committee, general secretary of CPC's Central Committee and at the
Eighth National People's Congress held in March, 1993, he was elected president
of the PRC and chairman of the Central Military Commission.
During the past eight years, what he always puts high on his agenda is grain,
cotton, edible oil and vegetable productionand supply, all closely related to
the people's daily life. "Any reform should benefit the majority of the
people and it should be carried out within the capacity of the people to bear
upon," he often said. Thanks to the implementation of these principles, the
thorny reforms of the country's public finance, taxation, monetary and
investment systems have been going on smoothly without sharp fluctuations.
Over the past eight years, Jiang toured almost all provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities except Taiwan. What he is concerned with most is the life of
the people in poor and remote areas where ethnic groups live. He initiated the
ambitious anti-poverty campaign in 1992, vowing to eradicate poverty before the
end of the century.Thanks to the intensified efforts, China's population under
the poverty line has been reduced from 80 million to 58 million by 1996.
Jiang loves to make friends with intellectuals.He has many good friends in
economic, scientific, art and press circles.Some friends called him a
"scholar statesman." Early in 1987 when he was still Shanghai mayor,
he initialed a bi-monthly seminar with scholars in the theoretical circle
in Shanghai. Each time he would raise a hot or sensitive or difficult issue for
the experts and scholars he invited to discuss.
Jiang stresses national self-esteem, self-confidence,national dignity and the
cohesion of the Chinese nation. Jiang is highly accomplished in classic Chinese
literature and often quotes ancient poems off-hand. Jiang has a wide range of
interest and plays piano and erhu, a two-string traditional Chinese musical
instrument. In his spare time,he may indulge himself in the music of Mozart and
Beethoven. In his eyes,the Chinese and Western cultures are
"communicable."
Jiang loves reading and devotes most of his spare time to reading the latest
science books. He also loves to read Mark Twain.Sources close to him said Jiang
could recite the monologue of "To be or not to be" in Hamlet and
"Ode to the West Wind" by Shelley. In his last official tour of
Russia, his analysis of the literary masterpieces by Leo Tolstoy and other
Russian authors surprised the Russian guides.
Wang Yeping, his wife, graduated from the Shanghai Foreign Languages Institute
and used to be head of an electrical engineering research institute in Shanghai.
Now she has retired. The couple have two sons. Jiang Mianheng, the eldest,
obtained his doctor's degree in electronic engineering in the United States.
After returning to Shanghai, he has been appointed director of the Shanghai
Metallurgical Research Institute. Their younger son, Jiang Miankang, studied in
Germany for a while after finishing Shanghai No. 2 University of Engineering.
Now he is a researcher of software at the Shanghai Underground Pipeline
Information System.