Politics of Shanghai

The Politics of Shanghai is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in the mainland of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the last few decades the city has produced many of the country's eventual senior leaders. The city has been important politically to China since the end of the 19th Century.

The Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government (上海市人民政府市长, abbreviated as 上海市市长) is the highest ranking executive official in Shanghai. Since Shanghai is a direct-controlled municipality of China, the mayor occupies the same level in the order of precedence as provincial governors. However, in the city's dual party-government governing system, the mayor has less power than the Communist Party of China Shanghai Municipal Committee Secretary (中国共产党上海市委员会书记, abbreviated as 中共上海市委书记), colloquially termed the "Shanghai CPC Party chief".

Before 1941, Shanghai had a split administration: the International Settlement (governed under the Shanghai Municipal Council), the French Concession, and the Chinese City. The Chinese city was invaded by the Japanese in 1937 and the foreign concessions were occupied by the Japanese in 1941. After the occupation, the foreign powers formally ceded the territory to the Nationalist Government in Chongqing (a move largely symbolic until the Japanese surrender since the Nationalists no longer controlled Shanghai).

Since Shanghai-born Chen Liangyu took municipal leadership in 2002, because of the increasing friction between the Shanghai clique and the central government under Hu Jintao, Shanghai's economic development has deviated from national policy considerably. Chen believed that wealth produced in Shanghai should stay in Shanghai and benefit only Shanghai citizens. Before Chen was charged with corruption in 2006, Shanghai's level of autonomy alarmed central authorities, as it surpassed that of many autonomous regions.

Contents

List of party chiefs

Order CPC Party Secretary Term Notes
1 Rao Shushi 1949—1950 later purged in 1954
2 Chen Yi 1950—1954 military commander
3 Ke Qingshi 1954—1965
4 Chen Pixian 1965—1967
5 Zhang Chunqiao 1971—1976
6 Su Zhenhua 1976—1979 De facto Peng Chong
7 Peng Chong 1979—1980
8 Chen Guodong 1980—1985
9 Rui Xingwen 1985—1987
10 Jiang Zemin 1987—1989 later General Secretary (1989-2002) and President (1993-2003)
11 Zhu Rongji 1989—1991 later Premier
12 Wu Bangguo 1991—1994 later Chairman of the National People's Congress
13 Huang Ju 1994—2002 later Vice-Premier
14 Chen Liangyu 2002—2006 dismissed for corruption
Han Zheng 2006—2007 Acting
15 Xi Jinping 2007 Former Party Chief in Zhejiang and Fujian
Promoted to Politburo Standing Committee
16 Yu Zhengsheng 2007— Former Party Chief in Hubei

List of Mayors

Mayor Term Notes
Huang Fu July 7, 1927 - April 1929 First mayor of Shanghai.
Chang Ch'ün April 1929 - January 1932
Wu Tiecheng January 1932 - April 1937
Yu Hung-Chun April 1937 - November 1937 Fled city following fall of Shanghai to the Empire of Japan in the Battle of Shanghai.
Chen Gongbo November 1940 - December 1944 Japanese collaborationist
Zhou Fohai December 1944 - August 1945 last Japanese collaborationist mayor, arrested by Kuomintang forces
K. C. Wu August 1945 - May 1949 last Kuomintang mayor, fled after communist takeover
Chen Yi May 1949 — November 1958 military commander
Ke Qingshi November 1958 — April 9, 1965
Cao Diqiu December 1965 — February 1967 purged during the Cultural Revolution
Zhang Chunqiao February 24, 1967 — October 1976 Chairman of Shanghai Revolutionary Committee
Member of Gang of Four, sentenced for treason
Su Zhenhua November 1976 — February 7, 1979 Chairman of Shanghai Revolutionary Committee
Peng Chong February 1979 — April 1981 De facto head from late 1976.
Wang Daohan April 1981 — July 1985 Jiang mentor
Jiang Zemin July 1985 — April 1988 later General Secretary (1989-2002) and President (1993-2003)
Zhu Rongji April 1988 — April 1991 later Premier (1998-2003)
Huang Ju April 1991 — February 1995 later Vice-Premier (2003-died in office on 2 June 2007)
Xu Kuangdi February 1995 — December 7, 2001 Demoted
Chen Liangyu December 7, 2001 — February 21, 2003 Later sacked
Han Zheng February 21, 2003 - present Concurrently acting party chief 2006-2007

List of Chairmen of Shanghai People's Congress

  1. Yan Youmin (严佑民): 1979-1981
  2. Hu Lijiao (胡立教): 1981-1988
  3. Ye Gongqi (叶公琦): 1988-1998
  4. Chen Tiedi (陈铁迪): 1998-2003
  5. Gong Xueping (龚学平): 2003-2008
  6. Liu Yungeng (刘云耕) : 2008-current

List of Chairmen of Shanghai CPPCC

  1. Ke Qingshi (柯庆施): 1955-1958
  2. Chen Pixian (陈丕显): 1958-1967
  3. Peng Chong (彭冲): 1977-1979
  4. Wang Yiping (王一平): 1979-1983
  5. Li Guohao (李国豪): 1983-1988
  6. Xie Xide (谢希德): 1988-1993
  7. Chen Tiedi (陈铁迪): 1993-1998
  8. Wang Liping (王力平): 1998-2003
  9. Jiang Yiren (蒋以任): 2003-2008
  10. Feng Guoqin (冯国勤): 2008-current

See also

Shanghai portal
Politics portal