Shanghai clique

Shanghai clique
Traditional Chinese 上海幫
Simplified Chinese 上海帮

The Shanghai clique or Shanghai faction is the name given to an informal group of officials in the Communist Party of China, especially those who serve in the Central Committee or the Central Government of China, who rose to prominence in connection to the Shanghai municipal administration under former CPC General Secretary Jiang Zemin.

This popular phrase was used somewhat pejoratively to describe Jiang's efforts to promote people who previously worked, or were associated with, his administration in Shanghai. It is more appropriately referred to as the "Jiang clique".[1]

Membership

Important people who have been identified as belonging to the clique include incumbent standing members of the powerful Politburo of the CPC Central Committee.

Before his death, Huang Ju (黄菊) was also a key member of the clique.

Upon Jiang's retirement in 2004, it is widely believed that he stuffed the cabinet with all his men, and is said to be making it difficult for Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao to carry out their own policies. The best evidence of this is in the recently concluded 5th Plenary Meeting of 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, when Hu's efforts to reshuffle the Politburo was blocked by members of the Shanghai Clique. Wen's macro-economic measures aimed at slowing down infrastructure growth and nationwide overheating in the property sector received great resistance from alleged members of this clique.

However, as Jiang had retired from all of his positions at the 4th Plenary Meeting of 16th National Congress of the CPC, Hu Jintao became the legitimate General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. There are signs of important members of the Shanghai Clique defecting to Hu's camp, thereby strengthening Hu's position. In addition, in a bold move in September 2006, Hu acted to purge prominent rival Chen Liangyu, former CPC Secretary and Mayor of Shanghai, for alleged corruption, thus strengthening his position both within the party and in China.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://news.memehk.com/posts/5187a
  2. ↑ BBC article Top China leader fired for graft published 25 September 2006