Zhang Gaoli

Zhang was born in a village in Jinjiang County, Fujian, to a family of farmers.[2] He was the youngest of five children. His family was poor. His father died when he was three years old.[3] He and his four siblings were raised almost single-handedly by his mother. As a child, Zhang helped his family with farm work and also caught fish in a neighboring river.[3]

Zhang attended Jinjiang Qiaosheng High School (晋江侨声中学). In 1965, Zhang entered Xiamen University to study economics. After graduating in August 1970, Zhang was sent to an oil company logistics team in Maoming to work as a construction worker, stocking materials in a warehouse and moving concrete blocks.[4]

In 1984, Zhang was named deputy party secretary of Maoming. This was Zhang's first foray into politics. A year later he was named chair of the Guangdong Economic Commission. By 1988, he became Vice Governor of Guangdong. In 1993, at age 47, he made it onto the provincial Party Standing Committee, becoming one of the top leaders of the province. He also served in roles such as the head of the coordination agency in charge of developing the Pearl River Delta and also the head of the provincial planning agency.

In 1997, Zhang became party secretary of Shenzhen.[5] By the fall of that year, he was named an alternate member to the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 1998, he was made deputy provincial party secretary of Guangdong while holding onto his municipal leadership position in Shenzhen. He served under then-provincial party secretary Li Changchun and alongside executive vice governor Wang Qishan. During this time, it was said that he received praise from former President Jiang Zemin.[6] He was also said to have frequently visited and tended to the needs of party veteran Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping.[6]

In late 2001, Zhang was transferred to the eastern coastal province of Shandong to become governor[3] and deputy provincial party secretary. In 2002, he was promoted to provincial party secretary, the first-in-charge of the province.[5] In Shandong, Zhang told a gathering of assembled local officials, "whether it is my relatives, children, friends; if they go to where you are, please do not go out of your way to receive them, do not carry favour with them, and do not offer to do things for them." This was seen as Zhang trying to send a signal that he intended to distance himself from a political culture rife with corruption and complex rules around guanxi.[3]

Shortly after the 17th CCP National Congress held in October 2007, the central leadership moved Zhang in a provincial leadership reshuffle to become party secretary in the coastal city of Tianjin. As the party leader of a direct-controlled municipality, Zhang also gained a seat on the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Observers speculated that Zhang would become a member of the "fifth generation" of leadership. In Tianjin Zhang cultivated a low-profile image. While he was seen as a top contender for a seat on the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, along with the regional chiefs of Chongqing and Guangdong, Bo Xilai, and Wang Yang, respectively, Zhang was decidedly less showy and avoided self-promotion. His motto during his term in Tianjin was "do more, speak less."[7]

It was reported that Zhang Gaoli was responsible for promoting the "immature" over-the-counter equity trading platform during his tenure as the Party Secretary of Tianjin. The platform was criticized for opening the door for "social crooks" to conduct financial fraud, causing hundreds of thousands of investors across China to be defrauded, with tens of billions of yuan at stake.[8]

Zhang Gaoli with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

After the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, Zhang earned a seat on the CCP Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), China's de facto top ruling council. He was ranked seventh out of seven members. The council had shrunk from nine seats to seven seats at the 18th Party Congress. On 15 March 2013, at the 1st session of the 12th National People's Congress, Zhang was appointed the first-ranking Vice Premier to the cabinet led by Premier Li Keqiang.[9]

He was put in charge of two mega projects, the Three Gorges Dam project, and the South-North Water Transfer Project. He was also named head of the Commission on Food Safety of the State Council. In February 2015, he was named leader of the Leading Group for Advancing the Development of One Belt One Road. He was also named the leader of the Leading Group for Coordinating the Joint Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the leader of the Leading Group for Advancing the Development of the Yangtze River Delta, and in April 2015, the leader of the Leading Group for the Transformation of the State Council. He was also the deputy leader of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, a member of the Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs.[10] and the Vice Chairman of the National Energy Commission. Zhang's wide-ranging leadership roles made him a major force in the implementation of the so-called "New Normal" economic policies of Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang.[10]

Zhang retired from the PSC after the 19th CCP National Congress in 2017. He stepped down as first-ranking vice premier in 2018 at the 1st session 13th National People's Congress, and was succeeded by Han Zheng.[11]