Lü Zushan (born November 1946) is a politician of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He succeeded

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

province in 2003. After retiring from provincial leadership in 2011, he has served as Vice-Chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of 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, ...

Early life and career

Lü was born in November 1946 in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, the capital of

province. In 1963 he entered the Nanjing Aeronautical Institute (now

Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics The Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA, ), colloquially known as Nanhang (南航), is a public research university in Nanjing, China. One of the Seven Sons of National Defence, it is directly supervised by the Ministry of In ...

), 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 ...

(CCP) in March 1966. After graduating from university in 1968 during 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 ...

, Lü was sent to do manual labour on a

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

farm until 1970, before becoming a technician at the Shaoyang Water Generator Plant in

Shaoyang Shaoyang (), formerly named Baoqing (Paoking) (), is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Hunan province, China, bordering Guangxi to the south. It has a history of 2500 years and remains an important commercial and transportation city in Hunan ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

province. Later he returned to Zhejiang and worked for the Zhejiang Automobile Industry Company, first as a technician and later as a manager. He then worked for the Machinery Department of the Zhejiang provincial government, first as an engineer, and later becoming deputy director and then director of the department.

Provincial leadership

In 1995, Lü became a member of the Standing Committee of the CCP Zhejiang Provincial Committee. In January 1998, he became Executive Vice-Governor of Zhejiang, and Deputy Communist Party Secretary of the province. In January 2003, the Zhejiang People's Congress elected Lü Zushan as

Governor of Zhejiang The politics of Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China. The Governor of Zhejiang is the highest-ranking official in the People's ...

, replacing

who became the Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang. He served under Xi, who later became

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...

(

paramount leader Paramount leader () is an informal term for the most important political figure in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), often hol ...

), during Xi's five-year term as the provincial

party committee 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 ...

, and retired as governor in 2011 when he reached 65, the mandatory retirement age for provincial party secretaries and governors. After serving as governor, Lü was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the

. Lü was an alternate member of the

16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China The 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 2002 to 2007. It held seven plenary sessions. It was set in motion by the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The 15th Central Committee preceded it. ...

and a full member of the 17th Central Committee. Like many other provincial governors, he holds a master's degree in engineering from the

Central Party School The Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (), commonly known as the Central Party School (), located in Beijing, is the higher education institution which trains Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres. As of 2012, it has around 1,60 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Zushan 1946 births Living people Governors of Zhejiang Politicians from Hangzhou People's Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang Chinese Communist Party politicians from Zhejiang Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics alumni