Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Dies at 97
Zhu Rongji, the reformist former premier of China who spearheaded sweeping economic changes and guided the country into the World Trade Organization, died of illness in Beijing on Wednesday at the age of 97. The announcement came through a joint obituary issued by the CPC Central Committee, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the State Council, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, as reported by Xinhua News.
Zhu died at 11:06 a.m. Wednesday in Beijing, according to the official obituary. He was described as “an excellent Party member, a time-tested and loyal communist fighter, and an outstanding proletarian revolutionist, statesman and leader of the Party and the state.”
A Life of Service and Resilience
Born in October 1928 in Changsha, Hunan Province, Zhu studied electrical engineering at Tsinghua University from 1947 to 1951 before joining the Communist Party in October 1949. His early career in economic planning was interrupted when he was labeled a “rightist” in 1957 for praising reforms in other communist countries, as AP News reported. He spent 22 years in eclipse, including exile to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution to perform manual labor.
Rehabilitated in 1979, Zhu rose rapidly through the ranks. He served as deputy director of the State Economic Commission from 1983 to 1987, then as deputy secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, mayor of Shanghai, and secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee between 1987 and 1991. In Shanghai, he urged the municipality to readjust its industrial structure, cultivate new development strengths, and pursue an export-oriented development path.
Architect of Economic Transformation
In 1991, Zhu was appointed vice premier of the State Council. By October 1992, he was elected to the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and its standing committee, taking charge of the State Council’s day-to-day work. In June 1993, he concurrently served as governor of the People’s Bank of China.
According to the Xinhua English report, Zhu actively championed the implementation of Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 southern tour principles and worked to promote reform and opening up. He organized campaigns to resolve the problem of “triangular debts” and developed measures to strengthen macroeconomic regulation, making significant contributions to curbing an overheated economy, reining in inflation, and achieving an economic “soft landing.”
Zhu made his name as a deputy premier in the 1990s by crushing inflation through price controls and cutting off loans to money-losing state companies, rebuffing resistance from local leaders. His demanding style earned him nicknames including “Boss” and “Zhu Fengzi,” or “Madman Zhu.”
The Premier Years: 1998-2003
Appointed premier in March 1998 at age 69, Zhu faced immediate crises: the Asian financial crisis and catastrophic flooding that killed 4,150 people. He implemented plans to shift from a moderately tight fiscal and monetary policy to a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, expanding domestic demand and deepening reforms in key areas.
Zhu pushed through a dizzying array of changes during his tenure. He launched China’s home ownership boom in 1998 with an initiative to sell state-owned apartments, transforming urban housing within a decade. He took state-owned enterprise reform as the central link of economic structural reform, stressing the need to promote re-employment of laid-off workers and strengthen the social security system.
His most consequential achievement was leading China into the World Trade Organization. Following marathon negotiations that began in the 1980s, Zhu oversaw the completion of the arduous talks, and China joined the WTO in December 2001. The move helped transform China into the world’s biggest exporter and kept economic growth above 8% annually from 2000 to 2010.
Zhu also played a key role in establishing the basic living security system for laid-off workers, the unemployment insurance system, and the minimum living guarantee system for urban residents. He advanced housing reform, fiscal and tax reforms, and financial system restructuring.
A Leader Who Spoke His Mind
Zhu stood out among Chinese leaders for admitting official failings and taking personal responsibility. “I have prepared 100 coffins here — 99 for corrupt officials and one for myself,” Zhu said in 1998, according to the party newspaper People’s Daily, as cited by AP News.
In 1998, after summer floods killed thousands and officials were accused of embezzling funds meant for anti-flood dikes, Zhu complained some barriers were “no stronger than bean curd.” Three years later, he apologized on national television for his Cabinet’s failure to protect the public after a schoolhouse explosion in southern China killed at least 42 people, most of them children.
Despite his reformist zeal, Zhu was less an advocate of free enterprise than a skilled bureaucrat who carried out party orders to whip state industry into shape. He showed no interest in privatizing the economy, instead playing a key role in drafting plans to turn banks, airlines, and oil companies into profit-oriented corporations while retaining government ownership.
Legacy and Final Years
Zhu stepped down as premier in March 2003. After retiring from leadership posts, he steadfastly supported successive CPC Central Committees and continued to care about the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He rarely appeared in public after leaving office.
The obituary praised Zhu’s life as “a revolutionary, fighting and glorious one,” adding that his death is “a great loss to the Party and the state.” It concluded with the words: “Eternal glory to Zhu.”
Zhu’s legacy is profound. As AP News noted, he is credited with supplying the resourcefulness and tenacity to push through history-making changes that helped propel China to overtake Japan as the world’s second-largest economy in 2010. His reforms laid the foundation for China’s transformation from a planned economy to a socialist market economy, a journey that continues to shape the global economic landscape today.
Zhu is survived by his wife, Lao An, their son Yunlai (also known as Levin Zhu, a former CEO of China International Capital Corp.), and their daughter Yanlai, who led a charity organization supporting schoolchildren.