Zeng Xisheng () (October 11, 1904 – July 15, 1968) was a Chinese politician. He was born in Xingning,

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

Province (now Zixing, Hunan Province). He was the first

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

Committee Secretary of

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

Province and also its 1st governor after the founding of the People's Republic of China. He was the 5th Party Secretary of Shandong. Zeng was a proponent of the

Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was an industrialization campaign within China from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to transform the country from an agrarian society into an indu ...

, but as Anhui became one of the first provinces to sink into famine, Zeng in 1961 allowed for farmers to rent land for private use, like growing crops. The land was recollectivized in the following years. In 1962 he was criticized during Seven Thousand Cadres Conference and replaced by Li Baohua and transferred out of Anhui to take on the office of Second Secretary of the Southeast Bureau. He died in 1968 during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, as his prior actions had been considered anti-revolutionary.

References

{{Authority control 1904 births 1968 deaths People's Republic of China politicians from Hunan Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan Governors of Anhui Political office-holders in Anhui Political office-holders in Shandong Politicians from Chenzhou People persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Whampoa Military Academy alumni CPPCC Chairmen of Anhui