Ai Zhisheng (; December 1928 – 20 July 1997) was a Chinese politician who served as from 1985 to 1994. He was a member of the Standing Committee of the 8th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was an alternate member of the

12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from September 1982 to November 1987. It held seven plenary sessions. It was securely succeeded by the 13th Central Committee. It elected the 12th Politburo of the Chinese ...

and a member of the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

and 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

Biography

Ai was born in Hanyang County (now Hanyang District of

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

, in December 1928. In 1946, he enrolled at

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

, where he majored in the Department of Civil Engineering. 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 Civil ...

(CCP) in 1948. After graduation, he stayed and worked at the university, and eventually becoming

deputy party secretary In modern Chinese politics, a Deputy Party Committee Secretary (; also translated as Deputy Party Secretary, deputy party chief, vice party chief) serves as the lieutenant to the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, and thus the deput ...

in 1960. 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 goa ...

broke out, he was removed from office and effectively sidelined. He was sent to the

May Seventh Cadre Schools The May Seventh Cadre Schools () were Chinese labor camps established during the Cultural Revolution that combined hard agricultural work with the study of Mao Zedong's writings in order to "re-educate" or ''laogai'' (reform through labor) cadres an ...

to do farm works. He was reinstated as deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee of Tsinghua University in 1971, but two years later was discharged again and forced to work in the fields as well. After Cultural Revolution, in 1977, he was appointed leader of the Sanmenxia Base Leading Group, Water Resources Department of Tsinghua University and one year later became leader of the Leading Group of Nuclear Energy Technology Research of Tsinghua University. He rose to become deputy party secretary and vice president of Tsinghua University in 1979. Ai got involved in politics in August 1983, when he was chosen as deputy secretary of the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

. In April 1985, he was promoted to become , a position he held until 1994. On 20 July 1997, he died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

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 ...

, at the age of 68.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ai, Zhisheng 1928 births 1997 deaths People from Wuhan Tsinghua University alumni Tsinghua University faculty People's Republic of China politicians from Hubei Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hubei Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the Standing Committee of the 8th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference