Ren Zhiqiang (; born 8 March 1951) is an incarcerated Chinese real estate tycoon and a blogger on

Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...

with more than 37 million followers. Nicknamed "Big Cannon Ren", he is known for his outspoken criticism of the

Chinese Communist Party 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 Ci ...

(CCP). He disappeared on 12 March 2020 after criticizing CCP

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

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, ...

as a "clown" over the handling of China's response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In September 2020 he was sentenced to eighteen years' imprisonment on corruption charges, after a one-day trial.

Career

Ren Zhiqiang was born in

Laizhou Laizhou, alternately romanized as Laichow, is a county-level city in the Prefecture-level city of Yantai, Shandong Province, China. As of 2008, Laizhou had a population of 902,000, out of which 188,000 are urban residents. Laizhou traditionally ...

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

Province on 8 March 1951. His father, Ren Quansheng ( 任泉生; 1918–2007), served as China's Vice Minister of Commerce, and his mother was a municipal official in Beijing. He studied at Beijing No. 35 Middle School. Ren's parents were persecuted 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 goa ...

, and he went to the countryside of

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an) ...

to work as a

sent-down youth The sent-down, rusticated, or "educated" youth (), also known as the ''zhiqing'', were the young people who—beginning in the 1950s until the end of the Cultural Revolution, willingly or under coercion—left the urban districts of the ...

in 1968. A year later, he enlisted in the

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

, serving as a

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...

in the 38th Army, and later a platoon leader. Ren left the army in 1981 and became deputy general manager of Beijing Yida.Executive Profile and Biography
''Bloomberg Business'', accessed 22 February 2016. In 1984 he joined Beijing Huayuan Group Corporation as a department head. He was imprisoned in September 1985, but was released 14 months later without being convicted of any crime. According to his long-time colleague, the reason for his imprisonment was because he had offended the head of the audit department of Beijing's

Xicheng District Xicheng District () is a district of Beijing. Xicheng District spans , covering the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road - the eastern half is Dongcheng District), and has 706,691 inhabitants (2000 Census). Its postal ...

. Ren became vice president of Huayuan Corporation in 1988, and President in 1993. In 2004 he became a Director of the Bank of Beijing Co., Ltd, and in 2007 Chairman of Beijing Huayuan Property Co., Ltd. He holds a Master of Laws degree from

Renmin University of China The Renmin University of China (RUC; ) is a national key public research university in Beijing, China. The university is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. RUC ...

. In 2010 ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. ...

'' reported that Ren, as chairman of Huayuan Real Estate Group, was paid the highest salary of anyone in the 258 listed companies that had filed annual reports. His salary was reportedly 7.07 million yuan ($1.04 million). He resigned as head of the property company in 2014. Until 2013 he was a member of the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

Municipal Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

Criticism of the Communist Party

Ren is known for his criticism of

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...

and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

policies. As a property tycoon with forthright views he has been called "China's

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

".'China's Donald Trump' kicks off communism debate
BBC Online, 24 September 2015. Accessed 22 February 2016. On 7 May 2010 a protester threw a shoe at him. In November 2013 he threatened to sue the state broadcasting company

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

(CCTV) after it reported that Huayuan Real Estate owed 54.9 billion yuan in unpaid tax, and in January 2014 he referred to CCTV as "the dumbest pig on earth". In September 2015 he caused online controversy in China with a Weibo post criticising the

Communist Youth League of China 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 ...

, the youth wing of the Communist Party. In 2016, he openly challenged Communist Party general secretary

's view that government media should toe the Party line. After Xi made an inspection tour of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

on 19 February 2016 during which journalists displayed a banner reading "CCTV's surname is the Party. We are absolutely loyal. Please inspect us", Ren posted on Weibo: "When does the people’s government turn into the party’s government?

re the media Re or RE may refer to: Geography * Re, Norway, a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway * Re, Vestland, a village in Gloppen municipality, Vestland county, Norway * Re, Piedmont, an Italian municipality * Île de Ré, an island off the we ...

funded by party membership dues? Don't waste taxpayers' money on things that do not provide them with services." The tweet was subsequently deleted, but on 22 February 2016 state-affiliated media accused Ren of advocating the overthrow of the Communist Party. On 28 February, Ren's weibo accounts were blocked by the

Cyberspace Administration of China The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC; ) is the central internet regulator, censor, oversight, and control agency for the People's Republic of China. The office also holds the administrative title of the party's Office of the Central C ...

(CAC), for "spreading illegal information", cutting Ren off from an estimated 37 million web followers. A day later, the Xicheng District CPC Committee, where Ren's party membership is registered, vowed to punish him under party rules. On 2 May 2016, Ren was placed on a one-year probation within party.

Prosecution

In a February 2020 essay Ren criticised a speech given by Xi Jinping concerning the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

, in which Ren "...saw not an emperor standing there exhibiting his ' new clothes', but a clown stripped naked who insisted on continuing being emperor". He said that the lack of free press and freedom of speech had delayed the official response to the pandemic, worsening its impact. He disappeared on 12 March. On 7 April 2020, the CCP

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 pa ...

announced that Ren was being investigated for alleged "serious violations of law and discipline". He Weifang said of the investigation: "It is hoped that the judicial authorities can handle this case strictly and in accordance with the law, and give a convincing demonstration of why the remarks constitute violations of the law and even crimes." On 23 July 2020, he was expelled from the

, paving the way for his criminal prosecution. On 22 September 2020, after a one-day trial, a Chinese court sentenced Ren to prison for 18 years on corruption charges.

References

External links

Translation: Essay by Missing Property Tycoon Ren Zhiqiang
China Digital Times {{DEFAULTSORT:Ren, Zhiqiang Living people 1951 births 20th-century Chinese businesspeople 21st-century Chinese businesspeople 21st-century Chinese criminals Businesspeople from Yantai Chinese chief executives Chinese male bloggers Chinese dissidents Chinese conspiracy theorists Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Renmin University of China alumni Chinese real estate businesspeople Writers from Yantai Missing person cases in China Chinese anti-communists People convicted of corruption

Career

Criticism of the Communist Party

Prosecution

See also

References

External links