Du Runsheng (; July 18, 1913 – October 9, 2015) was a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
military officer, revolutionary leader, politician, and economist.
He has been hailed as "China's father of rural reform".
From 1982 to 1986, he drew up the annual "Document No.1 of the Central Government" about rural reform, which promoted the development of rural areas. Du's students included
Wang Qishan
Wang Qishan (; ; born 19 July 1948) is a Chinese politician, and the current Vice President of the People's Republic of China. Wang is one of the leading figures behind China's foreign affairs, along with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Ke ...
,
Justin Yifu Lin
Justin Yifu Lin (; born on October 15, 1952) is a Chinese economist and professor of economics at Peking University. He served as the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank from 2008 to 2012. He has been appointed as China St ...
,
Zhou Qiren,
Wen Tiejun,
Wang Xiaoqiang,
Chen Xiwen,
Zhang Musheng,
Du Ying and
Weng Yongxi.
Du was a member of the 12th and 13th
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, ...
and a member of the
Central Advisory Commission
The Central Advisory Commission () (CAC) was a body of the Chinese Communist Party that existed during the era of the paramount leadership of Deng Xiaoping. The body was supposed to provide "political assistance and consultation" to the Party' ...
.
Biography
Education and early career
Du was born Du De () on July 18, 1913 in Yangyi Village of
Taigu County
Taigu () is a district of Shanxi province, China under the administration of Jinzhong City. It is administratively into three town-level entities (Mingxing 明星镇, Hucun 胡村镇, and Fancun 范村镇), and six township-level entities ( Ho ...
,
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
province, during the dawn of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
. He was accepted to Taiyuan National Normal College in 1929 and he entered
Beijing Normal University
Beijing Normal University (BNU, ), colloquially known as Beishida (), is a public research university located in Beijing, China, with a strong emphasis on humanities and sciences. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China ...
in 1934. In 1935 he was detained by the
Beiyang government
The Beiyang government (), officially the Republic of China (), sometimes spelled Peiyang Government, refers to the government of the Republic of China which sat in its capital Peking (Beijing) between 1912 and 1928. It was internationally r ...
for taking part in anti-government movement.
Military campaign in north China
He joined the
Communist Party of China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
in 1936. That same year, he served as chief captain of the Vanguard of National Liberation and head of its propaganda department. During the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, he served in various administrative and political roles
Taihang Mountain
The Taihang Mountains () are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shanxi, Henan and Hebei provinces. The range extends over from north to south and has an average elevation of . The principal peak is ...
border. He participated in the
Huai-Hai Campaign during the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
. He served successively as secretary-general of Central Plains Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, secretary-general of Central China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and party boss of CPC
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 ...
-
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
-
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 ...
Committee.
Land reform
Du was one of the Party's foremost rural experts and served an important role in China's land reform movement.
According to Du, settling accounts through the land reform movement focused on mobilizing peasants to:
The subsequent study of the land reform movement overseen and edited by Du concludes that "
nd reform was not only a profound economic transformation, but a profound political transformation as well, a prelude to the establishment and construction of a new China."
In Du's view, land reform was significant in constructing a China within the mold of the modern nation-state system and in China's peasants developing
class consciousness
In Marxism, class consciousness is the set of beliefs that a person holds regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their class, and their class interests. According to Karl Marx, it is an awareness that is key to ...
.
Du recounted:
According to Du, this reorganization of the grassroots increased the organizational mobilizing capacity of the central government, enhancing its ability to unify the country and its political direction and "
th regard to an agrarian nation that had previously been seen as a 'plate of loose sand,' the significance of all this was enormous."
After the establishment of PRC
After the founding of the Communist State, Du became secretary-general of Central China Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and its deputy director of the Land Reform Commission. He led the local land reform movement. In 1953, he was transferred to
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and he joined the newly created Central Rural Work Department of the Communist Party of China, working as secretary-general of the Head
Deng Zihui
Deng Zihui (; 17 August 1896 – 10 December 1972) was a Chinese communist revolutionary and one of the most influential leaders of the People's Republic of China during the 1940s and 1950s. He was one of the major military leaders of China dur ...
. He vigorously developed the private economy, but got criticized for "taking the capitalist road".
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
evaluated him as "a timid and conservative man".
He also served as deputy director of the Rural Office of the
State Council State Council may refer to:
Government
* State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President
* State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...
. From 1956 towards, he served successively as deputy director of the Office of Scientific Planning Commission of the State Council, secretary-general and deputy party group secretary of
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...
.
Cultural Revolution
In 1966, Mao Zedong launched the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
, Du Runsheng was suspended and suffered
political persecution
Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...
. In 1970, he was sent to the
May Seventh Cadre Schools The May Seventh Cadre Schools () were Chinese labor camps established during the Cultural Revolution that combined hard agricultural work with the study of Mao Zedong's writings in order to "re-educate" or ''laogai'' (reform through labor) cadres an ...
to work in
Qianjiang,
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
.
Economic reforms
In December 1978, after the
3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he was rehabilitated by
Hu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang (; 20 November 1915 – 15 April 1989) was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as Gene ...
.
He was deputy director of National Agricultural Commission of the People's Republic of China in 1979, and held that office until 1983, when he promoted to become director of Rural Policy Research Office of
Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, while the Politburo was charged with the ...
and director of Rural Development Research Center of the State Council, he remained in that positions until 1989, while these two agencies were canceled.
In 1980, he drafted the ''Several Problems about the Further Strengthening and Improving the System of Rural Production Responsibility'' (), which made the household responsibility system () first gained legal status.
He served as honorary president o
Chinese Association of Agricultural Science Societies president o
China Society of Cooperative Economics director-general of Chinese Association of Agricultural Economics, and director-general o
China Society of Territorial Economistsin his old age.
Death
On October 9, 2015, he died in Beijing Hospital, Beijing.
Personal life
Du had a daughter, Du Xia ().
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Du, Rensheng
1913 births
2015 deaths
Beijing Normal University alumni
People's Republic of China economists
Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanxi
People's Republic of China politicians from Shanxi
20th-century Chinese economists
21st-century Chinese economists
Chinese centenarians
Men centenarians
Politicians from Jinzhong
People of the Republic of China
Economists from Shanxi
People's Republic of China writers
Writers from Shanxi