Yuan Geng (; 23 April 1917 – 31 January 2016), born Ouyang Rushan, was a Chinese guerrilla fighter, war hero, spy, policy visionary, and serial entrepreneur on behalf of the Chinese state. He was an early proponent of China's
reform and opening up, and went on to create
Shekou Industrial Zone
Shekou () is an area at the southern tip of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. It faces Yuen Long, Hong Kong across the Shenzhen Bay. It has been designated as a Free Trade Zone by the government, alongside Qianhai, Heng ...
,
China International Marine Containers,
CSG Holding,
China Merchants Bank, and
Ping An Insurance
Ping An Insurance known also as Ping An of China (), full name Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. is a Chinese holding conglomerate whose subsidiaries provide insurance, banking, asset management, financial, healthcare services. ...
.
Early life and career
Born in
Bao'an County, now part of
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provi ...
, he joined 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 ...
at age 21 and fought guerrilla operations against the
Japanese occupation army in the
Dongjiang (East River) Column of the CPC-led Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Aggression Guerrilla Force from March 1939.
In 1942 he led a noted rescue operation of 800 people,
and in 1944 became head of the Dongjiang Column's liaison division. In this capacity he provided crucial information to the US military (
Pacific Fleet and
14th Army Air Force) about Japanese operations in
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...
.
In September 1945, he created a liaison office for the Communist guerrillas in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
, which later became the
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 ...
office and as such, the
de facto embassy
A ''de facto'' embassy is an office or organisation that serves '' de facto'' as an embassy in the absence of normal or official diplomatic relations among countries, usually to represent nations which lack full diplomatic recognition, regions o ...
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 List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
in the territory after 1949.
From 1945 to 1949 he went on to fight 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 main ...
as an artillery officer.
From November 1949, Yuan Geng pursued a career as an intelligence officer, seconded to
Ho Chi Minh
(: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...
in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
in 1950, then as Consul in
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...
from 1952. In 1955, he was in charge of security for the Chinese delegation at the
Bandung Conference
The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference ( id, Konferensi Asia–Afrika)—also known as the Bandung Conference—was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on 18–2 ...
, and was credited with saving Premier
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman M ...
from the
KMT-led assassination plot that resulted in the airplane crash of the
Kashmir Princess.
He was imprisoned in April 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 goa ...
, in Beijing's
Qincheng Prison
The Ministry of Public Security Qincheng Prison () is a maximum-security prison located in Qincheng Village, Xingshou, Changping District, Beijing in the People's Republic of China. The prison was built in 1958 with aid from the Soviet Unio ...
.
In October 1975, he was rehabilitated and appointed Deputy Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs in the
Ministry of Communications (or Transport).
Father of Shekou
Transport Minister
Ye Fei
Ye Fei (; 7 May 1914 – 18 April 1999) was a Philippine-born Chinese military general and politician of the People's Republic of China. Born Sixto Mercado Tiongco in the Philippines to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, he joined the Ch ...
asked Yuan Geng to direct his attention to the
China Merchants Steam Navigation Company in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
, a
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
-era commercial enterprise which the
PRC government regime had taken over in 1949 and kept in operation.
Based on his in-depth knowledge of Hong Kong, Yuan Geng became convinced of the immense potential for market-led economic development on the mainland. His report on how to make better use of China Merchants was forwarded by the Transports Ministry to the
State Council on 9 October 1978, recommending opening up the mainland economy to the international market using
China Merchants as an instrument. This proposal was approved after three days.
The policy context became even more favorable following the
Third Plenum meeting of December 1978, which cemented the political leadership of
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...
and the policy direction of
reform and opening up. Losing no time, in early January 1979 Yuan Geng prepared a pilot project in the form of an industrial zone supported by China Merchants, initially focused on
ship breaking
Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extractio ...
, with exemptions from the mainland's constraints on economic activity.
Yuan Geng chose to start with a geographically limited area as the Shekou Industrial Park (SIP), which later became the
Shekou Industrial Zone
Shekou () is an area at the southern tip of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. It faces Yuen Long, Hong Kong across the Shenzhen Bay. It has been designated as a Free Trade Zone by the government, alongside Qianhai, Heng ...
. The project was supported by
Transport Minister Ye Fei
Ye Fei (; 7 May 1914 – 18 April 1999) was a Philippine-born Chinese military general and politician of the People's Republic of China. Born Sixto Mercado Tiongco in the Philippines to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, he joined the Ch ...
and Guangdong Revolutionary Commission chairman Zheng Sheng.
It was swiftly approved in a meeting on 31 January 1979 in
Zhongnanhai
Zhongnanhai () is a former imperial garden in the Imperial City, Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council (central government) of China. Zhongn ...
attended by Party Vice Chairman
Li Xiannian, Vice Premier
Gu Mu, Vice Minister of Communications Peng Deqing, and Yuan Geng. Li Xiannian circled the
Nantou Peninsula, on which Shekou is located, on Yuan Geng's map of the Hong Kong area, to mark approval of the project and extension of its perimeter.
Following this episode, the project was nicknamed "circled SIP."
The Shekou Industrial Park then became the template for
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...
's subsequent policy to establish China's
special economic zones (SEZs), which took shape in April 1979 on proposals by
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...
officials led by
Xi Zhongxun.
In Guangdong, the policy was actively pursued by Xi Zhongxun's successor
Ren Zhongyi, who worked closely with Yuan Geng.
Throughout the 1980s, Yuan Geng pioneered policies that were unprecedented in post-1949 China, such as merit-based recruitment, promotion and pay, open access to housing, competitive procurement bids, local elections, local press freedom, and attracting foreign direct investors.
The approach he developed for access to housing, freed from individual dependence on
work unit
A work unit or ''danwei'' () is the name given to a place of employment in the People's Republic of China. The term ''danwei'' remains in use today, as people still use it to refer to their workplace. However, it is more appropriate to use ''danwei ...
, has been credited as a key enabler of the
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Ma ...
's success. In 1985 he organized local elections in the Shekou Industrial Park, in which 2,000 residents and workers participated.
The microclimate of freedom Yuan Geng fostered in Shekou was illustrated by the incident known as "Shekou tempest" in 1988.
In 1981 Yuan Geng coined the slogan “
time is gold and efficiency is life.” It was endorsed by Deng Xiaoping during his visit of Shenzhen in January 1984 and subsequently approved as Shekou's slogan on February 24, 1984. Yuan's slogan was inscribed on a giant billboard in Shekou and became a motto of the
reform era.
Later ventures
Yuan Geng went on to create a number of
state-owned enterprises
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governme ...
which participated greatly in the prosperity of the
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Ma ...
, most of them directly to support economic activity in Shekou. In January 1980, he established
China International Marine Containers.
In July 1982 he created China Nanshan Development (Group) Incorporation, China's first Sino-foreign
joint-stock
A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
, for the development of an oil terminal.
He followed up with the creation of Shenzhen Chiwan Wharf Holdings Limited, now known as Chiwan Base, as a joint-venture with Singaporean partners.
In 1984 he created
China Southern Glass Holding Limited, now China's largest architectural glass manufacturer.
In 1987 he created
China Merchants Bank, the first joint-stock commercial bank on China's mainland, with support from the
People's Bank of China Governor, Ms
Chen Muhua.
In May 1988, he steered the creation of
Ping An, the first joint-stock insurance company on the Chinese mainland, initially with support from China Merchants Bank.
Death and legacy
Yuan Geng retired in 1992. He was never very senior in the Party hierarchy, did not amass personal wealth, and was highly respected for his integrity, loyalty and humility. He died on January 31, 2016, in Shenzhen.
The local and national press immediately paid tribute, celebrating him as a significant protagonist of China's
reform and opening up. On the night of his passing away, an official memorial ceremony was led by Shenzhen Party Secretary
Ma Xingrui and Mayor
Xu Qin at the Shekou China Merchants Museum. Simultaneously, a spontaneous celebration was held at the Shekou Community Trust, echoing other cases of unprovoked manifestation of popular support following the death of respected Chinese officials.
Pony Ma, founder of Shenzhen-based
Tencent
Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the wo ...
, has described Yuan Geng as "the embodiment of the Shenzhen spirit."
A statue of Yuan Geng by local sculptor
Lu Zengkang, sponsored by
China Merchants Group
China Merchants Group Limited () is an international state-owned corporation (SOE) of the People's Republic of China. The company is operating under the auspices of the Chinese Ministry of Transport.
Founded in 1872 China Merchants Steam Navig ...
, was inaugurated in Shekou's
Sea World downtown development on 23 April 2017, his 100th birthday.
As of 2018 the statue stands in front of
Sea World Culture and Arts Center, in which the third floor hosts a display celebrating the history of Shekou and Yuan Geng's legacy. Another sculpture, a larger-than-lifesize bust of Yuan Geng by sculptor Yìshùjiā Wèizhī, was erected in 2017 in
Shenzhen Talent Park
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provinc ...
, near
Shenzhen Bay Park and close to the
Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base business district.
See also
*
Chinese economic reform
*
Wu Tingju
*
Shenzhen speed
The Shenzhen speed ( simplified Chinese: 深圳速度; traditional Chinese: 深圳速度) was a term originally used during the early stages of Chinese economic reform to describe the fast construction of Guomao Building in Shenzhen, China. Being ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Geng
Politicians from Shenzhen
1917 births
2016 deaths
Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star
People's Republic of China politicians from Guangdong
China Merchants Bank people
Businesspeople from Guangdong