Cheng Weigao (; September 1933 – December 28, 2010) was a Chinese politician, best known for his term as the

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 ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

province between 1993 and 1998. In his late career, Cheng was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 2003 after a corruption investigation. He was demoted, but not charged. Cheng's son,

Cheng Muyang Cheng Muyang (; born 14 November 1969), also known as Michael Ching and Ching Mo-yeung, is a Chinese businessman and property developer based in Vancouver, Canada. His father, Cheng Weigao, is a high-ranking Chinese politician. In 1996, he was ...

(Michael Ching), lives in Vancouver, Canada as of 2015.

Biography

Cheng was born in

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

Province. He followed his parents to neighboring

Changzhou Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provin ...

in his teenage years. He entered the

Communist Youth League The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...

organization in Changzhou in 1949, and 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 ...

about a year later. In 1959, he became a secretary to the deputy party chief of

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

. In 1965, he was named head of the tractor factory in Changzhou. In 1972, he was transferred to work at the Shanghuang Mine. In 1980 he was named deputy mayor of Changzhou, then in 1983 named party chief of Changzhou. Cheng served as the

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

between February 1984 and July 1987, and became a member of the

provincial Party Standing Committee Members of the standing committees of the Chinese Communist Party provincial-level committees, commonly referred to as ''Shengwei Changwei'' (), make up the top ranks of the provincial-level organizations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I ...

. He was then Governor of

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

between 1988 and July 1990. Then he was transferred to become governor of

, an office he held until January 1993, when he was promoted to Party Secretary of

. He served as the provincial party chief until 1998, when he began serving as Chairman of the provincial People's Congress. In January 2003, Cheng resigned as Chairman of the Hebei People's Congress and immediately headed back to Changzhou. He then lived in a mansion-complex named ''Yuyuan'' () for the remainder of his life. In August 2003, following an investigation by the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest internal control institution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), tasked with enforcing internal rules and regulations and combating corruption and malfeasance in the par ...

, Cheng was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for violating party discipline by aiding and abetting activities of his son and others. He was not charged with any criminal wrongdoing, but was demoted one level from full provincial status to sub-provincial level. In 2010 he died. His death was mourned by some Changzhou residents. Until the corruption case of Hebei party chief

Zhou Benshun Zhou Benshun (; born February 1953) is a former Chinese politician. Between 2013 and 2015, he served as the Communist Party Secretary and the top official of Hebei Province. Prior to his post in Hebei, Zhou Benshun was the Secretary-General of t ...

in 2015, Cheng was the only Hebei party leader in history to have been accused of corruption-related offenses by the party's top disciplinary body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Cheng's son,

(Michael Ching), lives in Vancouver, Canada as of 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Weigao 1933 births 2010 deaths People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Politicians from Suzhou Governors of Henan Governors of Hebei