Zhang Lichang

Zhang Lichang ( Chinese  张立昌 , Pinyin Zhāng Lìchāng ; born June 1939 in Nanpi , Hubei Province , Republic of China (1912–1949) ; † January 10, 2008 in Tianjin , People's Republic of China ) was a Chinese communist politician, former party leader of Tianjin and member of the Politburo .

Political career and promotion to mayor of Tianjin

After studying at the Beijing Business School , he joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in February 1966 . He then took on increasingly important offices in the party, administration and business in the important port city of Tianjin .

Before that, his professional and political career began in a factory for seamless tubes in Tianjin as a department head and deputy secretary of the youth association (1960 to 1966). He was then deputy director until 1972 and finally director and deputy secretary of the factory's party committee from 1972 to 1980.

Between 1980 and 1983 he was promoted to a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and deputy head of the city's iron and steel industry bureau in Tianjin. From 1983 to 1985 he was deputy secretary of the party committee, deputy chairman and then chairman of the city's economic commission.

From 1985 to 1993 he was the deputy mayor of Tianjin and also the secretary of the working committee for industry of the city party committee and chairman of the commission of the city customs offices (1985 to 1988). Between 1989 and 1993 he was also deputy secretary of the city's 5th Party Committee. Between January 1987 and January 1989 he completed a correspondence course at the Beijing University of Economics.

Since 1993 he has been the mayor of Tianjin and secretary of the party group of the city government. In addition, he was initially Deputy Secretary of the 6th Party Committee. In August 1997 he finally became secretary of the 6th Party Committee.

Advance to Tianjin party leader and national office

Zhang became secretary of the Tianjin City Party Committee in May 1998. At the same time he took over the office of chairman of the permanent people's congress of the city.

As early as 1982, he became a candidate for the 12th Central Committee of the CCP. He had been a member of the Central Committee since the 14th CCP Congress (1992). He had been a member of the Central Committee's Political Bureau since the 16 th CCP Congress in 2002, adding to the extended leadership of the Chinese party leadership. He was also a member of the National People's Congress since 1993 .

In March 2007, however, prior to the 17th CCP Congress in autumn 2007, Zhang Gaoli replaced him as secretary of the Tianjin Party Committee by a resolution of the Central Committee. He was also his successor as a member of the Politburo.

Zhang died on January 10, 2008 in Tianjin.

Web links

• Biography in German (as of August 2002)
• Biography in English
• Grooming China's future Leaders , article in Asia Times Online from April 4, 2007 about the replacement of Zhang Lichang as party leader of Tianjin

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhang is the family name here, Lichang is the first name.