Li Ruihuan

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Li Ruihuan (right) with Russian President Vladimir Putin , 2000

Li Ruihuan ( Chinese  李瑞環  /  李瑞环 , Pinyin Lǐ Ruìhuán ; born September 1934 in Baodi , Tianjin Province ) is a Chinese communist politician, former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and former chairman of the Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People (CPPCC) .

Origin and professional career

Li came from a simple farm worker family in Baodi County, Tianjin Province . After finishing school he worked from 1951 to 1965 as a carpenter in a building brigade in Beijing . In an evening course he completed a course of study at the Institute for Civil Engineering .

As a young civil engineer, he introduced a simplified calculation method that replaced the traditional and time-consuming Schnürboden method. This earned him the nickname of young Lu Ban, an ancient builder who, according to legend, built the An-Ji Qiao Bridge in one night.

Cultural revolution

Li joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in September 1959 . In 1965, he became the deputy party secretary of the Beijing Building Materials Company . He was repeatedly indicted during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Only after the Cultural Revolution did he take on leading positions in construction companies again. At times he was also vice chairman of the Beijing City Trade Union Confederation and vice chairman of the All China Youth Association.

Advance to the top leadership of the CCP

Mayor of Tianjin

In 1982, Li became secretary of the Tianjin City Sub -Government Party Committee and was temporarily acting mayor of Tianjin City . In 1984 he was also elected mayor of Tianjin. During his tenure as mayor, he carried out fundamental administrative reforms, extensive housing construction and changes in public transport. In addition, he organized a project for the supply of drinking water as well as a number of development measures in the area around Tianjin. Because of his far-reaching projects and his practice-oriented work style, he was extremely popular with the city's population. He also answered questions from the population in radio and television broadcasts.

Member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and Chairman of the CPPCC

Li was elected a member of the Central Committee at the 12th Congress of the CCP in 1982 and a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee (Central Committee) at the 13th Congress of the CPC in 1987 .

Two years later, at the 4th Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee , he became a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and a member of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee. In 2002 he resigned from this position, apparently under pressure from the previous party leader, Jiang Zemin . Jiang Zemin wanted to secure his influence in political life because Li Ruihuan was considered an ally of the new General Secretary of the Central Committee, Hu Jintao .

At the 8th National Committee in March 1993, he was also elected chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) , an advisory body in the state apparatus of the People's Republic of China that includes members of the CCP and members of other small parties authorized in China, such as also belong to the Guomindang . After Mao Zedong , Zhou Enlai , Deng Xiaoping , Deng Yingchao and Li Xiannian, he became the sixth chairman of the CPPCC since it was founded in September 1949.

In November and December 1993 he was the first chairman of the CPPCC after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, which made official state visits to Nepal , India and Pakistan . Subsequently, through the consultative conference, he established foreign policy contacts with 98 institutions in 68 countries and with four international organizations . He was re-elected to his post on the 9th CPPCC National Committee in March 1998. In this role, too, he earned the reputation of a fundamentally informed but also listening politician. Through this way of working, he achieved new clout and dynamism in the work of the CPPCC. In March 2003, he finally gave up his position as head of the CPPCC to Jia Qinglin , who is considered a supporter of the former Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin .

He also published two books on ideas for urban development and ideas for achieving practical things for people .

Li Ruihuan was also a member of the National People's Congress for several terms . In October 1998 he was elected honorary chairman of the Foundation for Disabled People and in June 1999 he was elected honorary chairman of the fourth council of the Green China Foundation.

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