Chen Guangyi (; born August 1933) was a Chinese politician. He served as Governor of

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

Province,

Communist Party Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

Province, and Director of the

Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the Chinese civil aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents. As the aviation authority responsible f ...

. Under his leadership, Fujian achieved record economic growth that exceeded the national rate in the 20th century.

Early life and career

Chen Guangyi was born in August 1933 in

Putian Putian or Putien (, Putian dialect: ''Pó-chéng''), also known as Puyang (莆阳) and Puxian (莆仙), historically known as Xinghua or Hing Hwa (), is a prefecture-level city in eastern Fujian province, China. It borders Fuzhou City to the nor ...

Province. After graduating from the Mechanical-Electrical Department of Northeast China Engineering College (now Northeastern University) in 1953, he began working as a technician at the Ministry of Metallurgy. He joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

in 1959.

Career in Gansu

By 1960 Chen was working in

Province in

Northwest China Northwest China () is a statistical region of China which includes the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai. It has an area of 3,107,900 km2. The region is characterized by a (semi-)arid con ...

, serving as a deputy division head for the Heavy Industry Department of Gansu, and Director of the Production Office of the Northwest China Nonferrous Metallurgical Design Academy (1964–1975). In 1980 he was promoted to Deputy Director of the Gansu Provincial Planning Committee, In March 1983, he was promoted to

Deputy Party Secretary In modern Chinese politics, a Deputy Party Committee Secretary (; also translated as Deputy Party Secretary, deputy party chief, vice party chief) serves as the lieutenant to the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, and thus the deputy ...

of Gansu, and a month later, Governor of Gansu Province. As governor, he focused on

poverty relief Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics cl ...

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and ...

, and mining. He became a member of the

12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from September 1982 to November 1987. It held seven plenary sessions. It was securely succeeded by the 13th Central Committee. It elected the 12th Politburo of the Chinese ...

in September 1985.

Career in Fujian

In March 1986, Chen was transferred to his home province of Fujian to serve as its Party Chief. It was said that

Jia Qinglin Jia Qinglin (; born 13 March 1940) is a retired senior leader of the People's Republic of China and of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee, the party's highest ruling organ, between ...

, a northerner, was intended to replace the retiring party chief

Xiang Nan Xiang or Hsiang may refer to: *Xiang (place), the site of Hong Xiuquan's destruction of a Chinese idol early in the Taiping Rebellion *Xiang (surname), three unrelated surnames: Chinese: 項 and Chinese: 向 (both ''Xiàng'') and Chinese: 相 (''X ...

, but because of opposition from Fujianese cadres, the top post of the province went to Chen Guangyi instead. Chen's performance as the top leader of Fujian was mixed. Starting in 1988, there was an infusion of Taiwanese investment and a record level of economic growth and foreign investment. Chen also supported the

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...

special economic zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

and

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

's southern tour of 1992. He responded swiftly and effectively to the complaints, and throughout the rest of 1992, he worked with officials from Xiamen,

Quanzhou Quanzhou, postal map romanization, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metrop ...

, and

Zhangzhou Zhangzhou (), alternately romanized as Changchow, is a prefecture-level city in Fujian Province, China. The prefecture around the city proper comprises the southeast corner of the province, facing the Taiwan Strait and surrounding the prefec ...

in southern Fujian on a strategy for growth. This resulted in strong performances in 1993, when Fujian had record economic growth which exceeded the national rate.

National government

In 1993, Chen was appointed Director of the

, and served in that position until 1998. After 1998, he mainly worked in the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

(NPC), serving as Chairman of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee in the 9th NPC (1998–2003), and as Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee in the 10th NPC (2003–2008). Chen was a member of the

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

to the 15th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Guangyi 1933 births Living people Politicians from Putian Governors of Gansu Chinese Communist Party politicians from Fujian People's Republic of China politicians from Fujian Directors of the Civil Aviation Administration of China Northeastern University (China) alumni Members of the 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party