Ren Zhongyi

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ren.

Ren Zhongyi (Chinese: 任仲夷; pinyin: Rén Zhòngyí; September 1914 – November 15, 2005) was a Chinese politician.

Biography

Ren was born in Wei County, Handan, Hebei province. He was a leader in China's reform period since the late 1970s. He is widely regarded as the bold reformer who led Guangdong to come 'one step ahead' in China's reform. He served as the First Communist Party secretary of Harbin, Heilongjiang (1956–1977), the First Party Secretary of Liaoning province (1977–1980), and the First Party Secretary of Guangdong (1980–1985).

After he retired, Ren Zhongyi remained active in public affairs and was bold and outspoken. He was amongst a few influential people in China who still publicly advocated political reform. One example is his iconoclastic article in the May 5, 2000 issue of the Guangdong-based national newspaper Southern Weekend [Nanfang Zhoumo] which sought to re-interpret Deng Xiaoping's theory of the Four Cardinal Principles (upholding the socialist path; upholding the people's democratic dictatorship; upholding the leadership of the Communist Party and upholding Marxist Leninsm Mao Zedong Thought) in order to create more room for democratic reforms. For example, on the principle of upholding the leadership of the Communist Party, he wrote:

"Improving the leadership of the Party means establishing a system that can effectively supervise and constrain the Party. Deng Xiaoping thought that the absence of constraints on the Party was dangerous. The Party needs to be led well but it needs to be supervised as well.

"I believe this is a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Communist Party is no exception to that rule. The Communist Party supervising itself is like having the left hand supervise the right hand. That just won't do. The Party needs to be supervised not just by the Party but by the people, the democratic party groupings and by independent persons. Not only must it be subject to the supervision of society and public opinion, it must be constrained by law as well."^[1]

Due to the degree of reputation and influence that he had, the Party leaders could only tolerate and to some extent accommodate his views, whilst at the same time using other means (such as sacking the editors who published his views in their magazines) to minimise the effect of his speeches.

Ren Zhongyi was first and foremost a pragmatic politician, instead of being a rigid ideologue attached to the faith of dogmatic Marxism-Leninism and communism. This is in fact true for many outstanding reformers at the time, such as Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, Wan Li, Xiang Nan etc.

Chen Shiji, former head of the PLA Air Force Propaganda Department of the Guangzhou Military District, in his 2009 article "Unforgettable Ren Zhongyi" called this 2000 article in Southern Weekend an example of Ren's clear thinking, determination to put to rest the remnants of Cultural Revolution thinking, and his conviction that Marxism must allow for change and progress.^[2]

References

↑ Upholding the Four Cardinal Principles Reconsidered a summary translation posted on the U.S. Embassy Beijing website at the Wayback Machine (archived August 21, 2001). Summary translation of Ren Zhonyi's Nanfang Zhoumo article of May 5, 2000 entitled "Upholding the Four Cardinal Principles Reconsidered" Retrieved on 2009-11-14.
↑ "Unforgetable Ren Zhongyi" an article in the 5/2009 issue of Tanhuang Shijie magazine." Chen Shji's appreciation of Ren Zhongyi" Retrieved on 2009-11-14.

Preceded by Zeng Shaoshan	Governor of Liaoning 1978	Succeeded by Chen Puru
Preceded by Zeng Shaoshan	CPC Liaoning Committee Secretary 1978–1980	Succeeded by Guo Feng
Preceded by Xi Zhongxun	Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Committee 1980–1985	Succeeded by Lin Ruo

CPC Committee Secretaries, People's Congress Chairmen, CPPCC Chairmen and Governors of Liaoning

CPC Committee Secretaries	Huang Oudong Huang Huoqing Chen Xilian Zeng Shaoshan Ren Zhongyi Guo Feng Li Guixian Quan Shuren Gu Jinchi Wen Shizhen Li Keqiang Zhang Wenyue Wang Min Li Xi

People's Congress Chairmen	Huang Oudong Zhang Zhengde Wang Guangzhong Quan Shuren Wang Huaiyuan Wen Shizhen Li Keqiang Zhang Xilin Wang Min

Governors	Du Zheheng Huang Oudong Chen Xilian Zeng Shaoshan Ren Zhongyi Chen Puru Quan Shuren Li Changchun Yue Qifeng Wen Shizhen Zhang Guoguang Bo Xilai Zhang Wenyue Chen Zhenggao Li Xi Chen Qiufa

CPPCC Chairmen	Huang Oudong Huang Huoqing Huang Oudong Li Huang Song Li Xu Shaofu Sun Qi Xiao Zuofu Zhang Wenyue Guo Tingbiao Luo Lin Yue Fuhong Xia Deren

Political leaders of Guangdong since 1949

CPC Committee Secretaries	Ye Jianying Tao Zhu Zhao Ziyang Huang Yongsheng Liu Xingyuan Ding Sheng Zhao Ziyang Wei Guoqing Xi Zhongxun Ren Zhongyi Lin Ruo Xie Fei Li Changchun Zhang Dejiang Wang Yang Hu Chunhua

People's Congress Chairmen	Li Jianzhen Luo Tian Lin Ruo Zhu Senlin Zhang Guoying Lu Zhonghe Huang Liman Ou Guangyuan Huang Longyun

Governors	Ye Jianying Tao Zhu Chen Yu Huang Yongsheng Liu Xingyuan Ding Sheng Zhao Ziyang Wei Guoqing Xi Zhongxun Liu Tianfu Liang Lingguang Ye Xuanping Zhu Senlin Lu Ruihua Huang Huahua Zhu Xiaodan

CPPCC Committee Chairmen	Tao Zhu Ou Mengjue Wang Shoudao Yin Linping Liang Weilin Wu Nansheng Guo Rongchang Liu Fengyi Chen Shaoji Huang Longyun Zhu Mingguo Wang Rong

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