Zhu Rongji, who served as premier of China from 1998 to 2003 and was credited with significant market-oriented economic reforms, has died at age 97, according to state media, which cited illness as the cause of death.
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Dies at 97
Zhu Rongji, who served as premier of China from 1998 to 2003 and was credited with significant market-oriented economic reforms, has died at age 97, according to state media, which cited illness as the cause of death.
Zhu was born in 1928 in Changsha, in China's Hunan province. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was 9, leaving him an orphan. He earned a degree in electrical engineering from Beijing's Tsinghua University, where he also served as student union president, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in October 1949, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic.
His direct manner brought repeated political difficulties. In 1958, he was labeled an ideological 'rightist' and briefly expelled from the party after criticizing Chairman Mao Zedong's economic policies, though he retained a position in state planning. In 1970, he was purged again during the Cultural Revolution and spent five years performing manual labor at a party reeducation school. He was rehabilitated after Mao's death in 1976 and the rise of Deng Xiaoping.
Following the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square, Zhu wrote in a Shanghai newspaper essay that 'the event that occurred recently in Beijing is a historical fact, and historical facts cannot be covered up by anybody,' declining to issue the standard party denial.
Zhu served as mayor of Shanghai before rising to governor of the central bank, where he brought down runaway inflation, and then as vice premier, in which role he led a centralization of the tax system. Appointed premier in 1998, he pledged to reform indebted state banks within two years and inefficient state enterprises within three.
Among the most contentious episodes of his tenure was the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, during which an estimated 30 million state workers lost their jobs, triggering worker protests across the country. Zhu did establish a basic social welfare system and took steps to expand basic health care, which had deteriorated in rural areas, but some regions—particularly in China's northeast, which depended heavily on state employment in heavy industry—did not fully recover economically.
Zhu's tenure also included years-long negotiations for China to obtain preferential trading status with the United States, a prerequisite for joining the World Trade Organization. The U.S. Senate voted to grant that status in 2000, and China joined the WTO in 2001. The accession contributed to China becoming a major export economy, with foreign businesses establishing a significant presence in the country.
Some of his reform ambitions were not realized. Efforts to reduce bad debt at state banks and overhaul the pension system did not succeed, in part, according to the source, because Zhu did not cultivate the political patronage networks that might have helped him overcome opposition within party ranks.
After retiring from the premiership in 2003, Zhu remained largely out of public view, spending his final years at his Beijing home. He was said to enjoy Peking Opera and to have quietly advised some of a newer generation of technocrats leading China.
Where sources differ
- The year Zhu was labelled a 'rightist' differs between sources: NPR says 1958, while CBC says 1957.
- The stated reason for the 'rightist' label also differs: NPR attributes it to Zhu criticising Mao Zedong's economic policies, while CBC attributes it to his praise of reforms in Hungary and Yugoslavia.
- NPR states Zhu's rehabilitation came after Mao died in 1976 and Deng Xiaoping came to power; CBC states he was rehabilitated in 1979.
- No official Chinese government statement or characterization of Zhu's legacy is included beyond what state media reported about the cause of death.
- The specific date of death is not provided.
- No response or assessment from current Chinese leadership, including President Xi Jinping, is included.
- The source does not detail which specific reform proposals were blocked within the party or identify the internal opposition.
- The extent to which Zhu's informal post-retirement advisory role influenced current policy is not established.