Zhang Xi (PRC politician)

Chinese politician

Zhang Xi

Communist Party Secretary of Henan
In office
October 1949 – November 1952
Succeeded by| Pan Fusheng
Personal details
Born| (1912-02-01)1 February 1912
Pingxiang, Hebei, China
Died| 8 January 1959(1959-01-08) (aged 46)
Beijing
Political party| Chinese Communist Party

In this Chinese name, the family name is  Zhang.

Zhang Xi (Chinese: 张玺; 1 February 1912 – 8 January 1959) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician. He was the first Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Henan province of the People's Republic of China, and one of the founding members of the State Planning Commission. He died of nasopharynx cancer in 1959, at the age of 46.[1][2][3] During the Cultural Revolution, he was posthumously denounced as a traitor, and his ashes were exhumed and discarded.[1]

## Republic of China

[edit]

Zhang Xi was born 1 February 1912 in Dongtian Village, Pingxiang County, Hebei province. His original name was Wang Changzhen (Chinese: 王常珍). In 1931, while a student at the Provincial No. 4 Normal School in Xingtai, he joined the Communist Youth League of China, and later became its leader. After the 1931 Mukden Incident, which led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, he organized student protests in Xingtai against the Japanese aggression.[1][2]

In the autumn of 1932, Zhang was arrested in Xingtai by the Kuomintang (KMT) government, and imprisoned at the Caolanzi Prison in Beiping (now Beijing) for more than four years. Also held in the prison were other important Communist leaders including Bo Yibo, An Ziwen, and Liu Lantao. In 1934, Zhang joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while in prison. In 1935, the KMT government signed the He–Umezu Agreement with Japan, agreeing to cease all KMT activities in Hebei, including Beiping, and released the Communist prisoners in Beiping the following year.[1][3]

After his release from prison, Zhang Xi reconnected with the CCP leadership and helped establish and lead the Hebei–Shandong–Henan (Ji–Lu–Yu) revolutionary base area. He participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the subsequent Chinese Civil War against the KMT government. He served as Deputy Party Secretary and later Party Secretary of the region, as well as Political Commissar of the military region.[1][2]

## People's Republic of China

[edit]

After the Communist forces took control of the entire Henan province from the KMT government in January 1949, Zhang Xi was appointed the CCP Committee Secretary of the province in May, before the establishment of the People's Republic of China in October.[1][2] At 37, he was the youngest provincial party chief, along with Su Zhenhua, the party chief of Guizhou.[3] Zhang oversaw the land reform in Henan, and worked to help its economy recover from more than a decade of warfare.[1][2]

Zhang Xi's work in Henan was praised by the central government, and in 1952 he was transferred to Beijing to become the Deputy Director of the newly established State Planning Commission. In September 1956, he was elected as an alternate member of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.[1][2]

## Death

[edit]

In April 1956, Zhang was diagnosed with nasopharynx cancer. He was sent to Moscow, where he was treated at the Kremlin Hospital for three months. After returning to China, it was discovered that his cancer had metastasized, and he underwent another major operation. He died on 8 January 1959, at the age of 46.[1][2]

## Cultural Revolution

[edit]

After the radical Cultural Revolution erupted in 1966, many Communist revolutionaries who had spent time in Kuomintang prisons, including Zhang's former prison mates Bo Yibo and An Ziwen, were denounced as traitors (known as the "61 Renegades") and persecuted. Zhang was posthumously labelled a traitor, and his ashes were exhumed and discarded.[1] His name was cleared after the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976.[1]

## See also

[edit]

* 61 Renegades

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bo Yibo; Wang Congwu; Duan Junyi; Han Zheyi (11 February 1988). 一片丹心献人民――忆战友张玺同志. People's Daily (in Chinese). Retrieved 11 October 2014.
2. ^ a b c d e f g 张玺 [Zhang Xi] (in Chinese). Henan Provincial Government. 8 March 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
3. ^ a b c 张玺：37岁成为河南省委书记 (in Chinese). Netease. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

Political offices

New title |  Communist Party Chief of Henan
1949–1952  | Succeeded by

Pan Fusheng

* v
* t
* e

Political leaders of Henan since 1949

Party Committee
Secretaries|

* Zhang Xi
* Pan Fusheng
* Wu Zhipu
* Liu Jianxun
* Wen Minsheng
* Liu Jianxun
* Duan Junyi
* Liu Jie
* Yang Xizong
* Hou Zongbin
* Li Changchun
* Ma Zhongchen
* Chen Kuiyuan
* Li Keqiang
* Xu Guangchun
* Lu Zhangong
* Guo Gengmao
* Xie Fuzhan
* Wang Guosheng
* Lou Yangsheng

Congress
Chairpersons|

* Hu Lijiao
* Liu Jie
* Zhao Wenfu
* Zhang Shude
* Lin Xiao
* Yang Xizong
* Li Changchun
* Ren Keli
* Li Keqiang
* Xu Guangchun
* Lu Zhangong
* Guo Gengmao
* Xie Fuzhan
* Wang Guosheng
* Lou Yangsheng

Governors|

* Wu Zhipu
* Wen Minsheng
* Liu Jianxun
* Duan Junyi
* Liu Jie
* Dai Suli
* Yu Mingtao
* He Zhukang
* Cheng Weigao
* Li Changchun
* Ma Zhongchen
* Li Keqiang
* Li Chengyu
* Guo Gengmao
* Xie Fuzhan
* Chen Run'er
* Yin Hong
* Wang Kai

Conference
Chairpersons|

* Pan Fusheng
* Wu Zhipu
* Liu Jianxun
* Zhao Wenfu
* Wang Huayun
* Song Yuxi
* Yan Jimin
* Lin Yinghai
* Fan Qinchen
* Wang Quanshu
* Ye Dongsong
* Liu Wei
* Kong Changsheng

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