Zhou Benshun

Zhou Benshun (Chinese: 周本顺; born February 1953) is a politician of the People's Republic of China. He is the Communist Party Chief and the top official of Hebei Province.^[1][2]

Career

Zhou Benshun is a native of Xupu County, Hunan province. He joined the Communist Party of China in September 1971.^[1][2]

From 1972 to 1975 Zhou attended Changchun Institute of Geology (now part of Jilin University) in Jilin province. After finishing university in December 1975, he taught at the Hunan School of Geology until 1985.^[2]

In January 1985 Zhou Benshun started working at the Policy Research Office of Hunan province, becoming its director in 1994. At the end of 1994 he was appointed Deputy Communist Party Chief of the prefecture-level city of Shaoyang, Hunan, rising to Party Chief the following year. From 2000 to 2003 he was the Director of Public Security of Hunan province.^[1][2]

In November 2003 Zhou was transferred to the central government in Beijing to become the Deputy Secretary General of the Central Politics and Law Commission,^[1][2] working under Secretary General Wang Shengjun. In March 2008, Wang was promoted to President of the Supreme Court, and Zhou succeeded Wang as Secretary General. For the next five years Zhou Benshun worked under Zhou Yongkang (no relation), one of China's top leaders who was then the head of the Commission.^[3]

In March 2013 Zhou Benshun was appointed the Communist Party Chief of Hebei province, replacing Zhang Qingli, who had risen to Deputy Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.^[1][2]

Zhou is a member of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.^[1][2]

Political views

Zhou Benshun is considered a protégé of Zhou Yongkang, China's former security czar who retired in late 2012. He is known for his hard-line political views, expressed in a 2011 article published in Qiushi describing the concept of civil society as a "trap" being sold by Western countries.^[4]

References