Zhu Muzhi (; 25 December 1916 – 23 October 2015) was a Chinese politician. Zhu was a member of the 10th, 11th and 12th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party. Zhu served as president of 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 ...

, deputy head of the

Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in charge of spreading C ...

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...

, and chairman of the

State Council Information Office The State Council Information Office (SCIO; ) is the chief information office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. In 2014, SCIO was absorbed into the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). History ...

Biography

Zhu was born in

Jiangyin Jiangyin (, Jiangyin dialect: ) is a county-level city on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, and is administered by Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Jiangyin is one of the most important transport hubs on the Yangtze River, it is also one of the most d ...

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 ...

Province,

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 ...

in December 1916. He graduated from

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

in 1937, where he majored in foreign language. After graduation, Zhu worked in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

as an editor for ''Jinling Daily'' (). Zhu 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 ...

in April 1938. From 1941 to 1943, Zhu worked in the

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 ...

. From 1946 to 1964, Zhu worked in

as an editor. In 1966, 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 ...

was launched by

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) ...

, Zhu was arrested 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 September 1972, Zhu worked as the secretary of Xinhua News Agency. From December 1977 to April 1982, Zhu served as a deputy head of the

. From April 1982 to March 1986, Zhu served as Minister of Culture of the People'e Republic of China. From April 1991 to December 1992, Zhu served as director of the

. In July 1993, he served as the newly founded China Society For Human Rights Studies, a position he held for almost fourteen years until May 2007. He retired in March 2004. He died of illness in

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 ...

, on October 23, 2015, aged 98.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Muzhi 1916 births People from Jiangyin National University of Peking alumni 2015 deaths Ministers of Culture of the People's Republic of China Politicians from Wuxi People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangsu Republic of China journalists Writers from Wuxi People's Republic of China journalists Victims of the Cultural Revolution Xinhua News Agency people