Liu Yunshan (; ; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician. He was a member of the

Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...

, the top decision-making body of the CCP, between 2012 and 2017; he was broadly tasked with the work of the party's

secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...

, overseeing propaganda and ideological indoctrination, as well as party organization, in addition to serving as President of the Central Party School. Liu built his career in Inner Mongolia, working initially as a teacher, then a

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

reporter, before entering 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 ...

and the Inner Mongolia party propaganda department. He had a short stint working as the Party Secretary of the city of

Chifeng Chifeng ( zh, s=赤峰市), also known as Ulanhad ( mn, (Улаанхад хот), ''Ulaɣanqada qota'', , "red cliff"), is a prefecture-level city in Southeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It borders Xilin Gol League to t ...

, in Inner Mongolia. Between 2002 and 2012, Liu served as the head of the Central Propaganda Department. Liu, generally perceived by observers to be a conservative and orthodox Communist, oversaw the gradual tightening of internet controls in China during his tenure, as well as an overall reduction in free discourse and

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Tumed Qi in

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

; he traces his ancestry to Xinzhou, Shanxi province. He spent over twenty years of his career in Inner Mongolia. He joined the Communist Party in 1971. He initially worked as a teacher, then was "sent down" to do manual labour in the countryside as part of 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 goa ...

. He attended college part-time at the Teachers College in Jining District, Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia. He then worked in the local government's public relation department of Tumed Qi. He started working as a reporter for

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

in 1975, writing stories about farmers' nomadic lifestyle in Inner Mongolia and occasionally sleeping in yurts to get close to the people that were part of his story. He was eventually promoted to a supervisory role. He then worked for the provincial Communist Youth League organization. In 1985, the 38-year old Liu earned an alternate seat on the

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

. In 1986, Liu became the Inner Mongolia State Government's director of public relation in 1986, and by 1987, the Secretary-General of the Inner Mongolia Party committee, a position in charge of coordination the execution of political policies. Between 1989 and 1992, Liu attended the Central Party School to take courses in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...

. In 1991, he became Party Secretary of the eastern Inner Mongolian city of

while also holding a seat on the Autonomous Region's Party Standing Committee, making him one of the most powerful officials in Inner Mongolia at the time. Between 1993 and 2002, he worked in Beijing as the deputy head of the Central Public Relation Department as a deputy to

Ding Guangen Ding Guangen (; September 1929 – July 22, 2012) was a Chinese politician who served in senior leadership roles in the Chinese Communist Party during the 1990s. He was a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party between 1992 and 2 ...

Politburo career

In 2002, at the

16th Party Congress The 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Beijing between November 8 and 14, 2002. It was preceded by the 15th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. 2,114 delegates and 40 specially invited delegates a ...

, Liu became the head of the Central Propaganda Department. Although he also gained a seat on the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contracti ...

at the same time, the overall direction of ideology and propaganda work was 'supervised' by Standing Committee member

Li Changchun Li Changchun (born February 1, 1944) is a retired Chinese politician and a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party. He served on the Politburo Standing Committee, the Communist Party's top leadership council, and as the top official ...

; thus Liu was, for all intents and purposes, not the top propaganda official in China at the time. Liu also became a Secretary of the Secretariat. He was also a member of the 17th

Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, formally known as the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and known as the Central Bureau before 1927, is the decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ...

. After the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, Liu was elected to both the 18th Politburo and its

Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

. Liu accumulated a number of high-level positions in addition to his role of overseeing propaganda, including the top spot in the

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...

, which was formerly held by

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, ...

, who 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 lead ...

, i.e., party leader. Liu, considered a censorship hard-liner, was seen as a staunchly conservative member of the Standing Committee who religiously upheld party orthodoxy. Previously, the top position of the Secretariat and the leading post for propaganda were held by separate people.At the 16th Party Congress in 2002, Zeng Qinghong held the first-ranked Secretariat position, while Li Changchun was the propaganda chief; at the 17th Party Congress in 2007, Li retained his position, but Xi Jinping became first-ranked Secretary of the Secretariat. Several theories had been proposed for Liu's elevation to the Standing Committee. His two-term tenure was often cited as a primary factor. China analyst

Cheng Li Cheng Li () is a Chinese-American scholar specializing in Chinese elite politics and contemporary Chinese society; he has served as the director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution since 2014, replacing Kenneth Lie ...

said that Liu was elevated due to the patronage of former leader

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as p ...

. Others suggest that Liu was a balancing force in that he had both Communist Youth League experience and loyally upheld party orthodoxy as a conservative. That Liu Yunshan effectively succeeded in the portfolios held by two individuals prior to the Congress was arguably an indication of the breadth of his power. However, unlike his predecessors Xi Jinping and Zeng Qinghong, Liu did not take on the office of Vice President as was customary for the two previous first-ranked Secretaries of the Secretariat, which went to

Li Yuanchao Li Yuanchao (born 20 November 1950) is a retired Chinese politician. He was the Vice President of the People's Republic of China from 2013 to 2018 and the Honorary President of the Red Cross Society of China. He was a member of the Secretaria ...

. In 2013, Liu was named one of three deputy leaders of the

Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms The Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission (), formerly known as the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms () is a policy formulation and implementation body set up under the Politburo of the Chinese Communis ...

Standing Committee member

Following the 18th Party Congress, Liu also emerged as the main official in charge of party organization and personnel, as well as the leading official in charge of propagating the so-called "

mass line The mass line is the political, organizational and leadership method developed by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Chinese Communist Revolution. It refers to formulating policy based on theory, implementing it based pe ...

" education in the party as well as "party building". During the

Xi Jinping administration The Xi Jinping Administration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially called the "CCP Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as General Secretary" () between 2012 and 2016, and "CCP Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its ...

's crackdown on corruption, which began in 2013, Liu acted as the top official attending the leadership transition meeting in the aftermath of the political 'earthquake' in Shanxi province which saw the removal of a large number of top provincial leaders. That a Standing Committee member attended the 'transition meeting' was regarded as extremely unusual, as generally the central authorities in Beijing would dispatch the head of the Organization Department to such an event. In May 2015, Liu penned an article on ''Study Times'' in which he criticized that political culture in the Communist Party must not become too "lax and flexible" and that party members must resolutely follow party rules. Some commentators saw the remarks as implicitly critical of star television host

Bi Fujian Bi Fujian (; born 16 January 1959), also known by his nickname Laobi (), is a Chinese director, television host and professor. Bi is the long-time host of the singing competition franchise '' Xingguang Dadao'' (''Avenue of Stars''), and has been ...

, who made some comments critical of Mao which surfaced on an online video. Liu led the Chinese delegation on a visit to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

in 2015, and met with Workers' Party first secretary

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...

, becoming the first Politburo Standing Committee heavyweight to meet with the young North Korean leader. Liu delivered a personal letter from Communist Party general secretary

to Kim Jong-un. Liu and Kim embraced in front of cameras in a show of camaraderie. Liu also accompanied the North Korean leader in watching the military parade marking the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party ...

. Perhaps due to his wide influence over the portfolios of propaganda and ideology, Liu has played a somewhat unusual role in representing the Chinese leadership in meetings with global technology companies. Liu met with Facebook founder

Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), of ...

in March 2016, and Microsoft CEO

Satya Nadella Satya Narayana Nadella (, ; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, ...

in November 2016. Liu retired at the 19th Party Congress in 2017.

Criticism

Liu Yunshan has been subject to criticism by the writer

Tie Liu Tie Liu (; born 1933) is the pen name of the Chinese writer and underground publisher Huang Zerong (). Biography Tie Liu was born in 1933 in Sichuan, Republic of China, and was an ardent revolutionary in his youth. In 1957, during Communist leade ...

, whose work has been published by the Independent Chinese PEN Center. In an essay entitled ''We must Account for Liu Yunshan's Crimes Against Reform'', Tie Liu wrote, "Liu Yunshan was the mastermind behind the corruption of China's media organs. He is the arch-nemesis of the path to reform in China, and the biggest opponent of the administration of Xi Jinping and Premier

Li Keqiang Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is a Chinese politician who is the outgoing premier of China. An economist by profession, Li is head of China's executive branch as well as one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affa ...

." Tie Liu also alleged that Liu Yunshan was "morally depraved", and was a supporter of the "

Bo Xilai Bo Xilai (; born 3 July 1949) is a Chinese former politician who was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges. He came to prominence through his tenures as Mayor of Dalian and then the governor of Liaoning. From 2004 to November 2007, ...

Zhou Yongkang Zhou Yongkang (born 3 December 1942) is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), China's highest decision-making body, and the Secretary of the Central Politic ...

clique", alluding to Liu as one of China's foremost leftists ("leftists" can also be understood as "

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

s"). Tie Liu also wrote, "for over a decade, with publishing and television all under Liu Yunshan's control, there hasn't been a single newspaper reporting the truth, not a single book that could stand on its feet, and not a single good movie or television series." In the same essay, Tie Liu voiced support for other leaders, such as Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, and

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 ...

Family

Liu is married to Li Sufang (李素芳), who worked at 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 ...

. Liu and his wife had two sons, Liu Lefei (刘乐飞) and Liu Leting (刘乐亭). Liu Lefei was, as of 2014, the vice-chairman of

CITIC Securities CITIC Securities Co., Ltd. is a Chinese full-service investment bank. It offers services in underwriting, research, brokerage, asset management, wealth management, and investment advisory. CITIC Securities was established in 1995 and it is head ...

. According to the New York Times,

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...

offered a job to one of Liu's sons despite the fact that the son "cannot meet our standard" in an effort to hire

princelings The Princelings (), also translated as the Party's Crown Princes, are the descendants of prominent and influential senior communist officials in the People's Republic of China. It is an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify tho ...

to gain connections. His son and daughter-in-law have been named in association with the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

Notes

References

External links

Biography of Liu Yunshan

People's Daily Online The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...

.
Biography
China Vitae

(November 2012) , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Yunshan 1947 births Chinese Communist Party politicians from Inner Mongolia Living people People from Baotou Sent-down youths People's Republic of China politicians from Inner Mongolia Heads of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 18th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 17th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 16th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Xinhua News Agency people