Having been both the Mayor of Shanghai and the city's party chief in the 1990s, Huang enjoyed very close relations with his patron Jiang Zemin, he was known to be strongly opposed to President Hu Jintao. During his tenure in Shanghai Huang and his family members were involved in various corruption cases. He died in office on 2 June 2007.
Biography
Education
Born in , as Huang Deyu , Huang attended Tsinghua University in 1956-63 where he graduated in Electrical Engineering.
Career
Huang was employed as a Technician in the foundry section of the Shanghai Artificial-board Machinery Factory from 1963 to 1967. From 1967 to 1977, Huang worked as Technician in the power section of the Shanghai Zhonghua Metallurgical Factory , where he was also Assistant Deputy Secretary Workshop Party Branch. He became Assistant Director of the Revolutionary Committee, Deputy Plant Manager, Engineer from 1977 to 1980. He was Assistant Manager of the Shanghai Petrochemical General Machinery Company from 1980 to 1982. From 1982 to 1983 he was Deputy Commissioner of the Shanghai First Mechanical and Electrical Industry Bureau .
Time in Shanghai
From 1983 to 1984, he was Shanghai Municipal Party Committee member and City Industry Work Party Secretary; Shanghai Municipal Party Committee member, its Secretary General from 1984 to 1985 and its Assistant Deputy Secretary from 1985 to 1986.
In 1987, Huang became one of the chosen candidates for the Mayor of Shanghai, and therefore a CCP Central Committee member, but he was embarrassed by the low number of votes supporting his candidacy in Shanghai's Municipal Congress. Huang therefore did not become Mayor and Zhu Rongji was subsequently elected Mayor in his place. When Zhu became Premier after his transfer to the Central Government in Beijing, Huang became mayor of Shanghai in 1991 and then city's Party chief in 1994, which he served until October 2002. Although he led the eastern commercial hub in a continuous era of prosperity and development, he is known to have achieved fairly little in Shanghai. Huang was, however, the inventor of a string of themed property developments within Greater Shanghai which were carbon copies of famous European cities. For example, Thames Town in Songjiang, outside Shanghai city proper, built to imitate a British market town.
Huang served in a role to keep the city's party organization in line, and is remembered for by some as having raised the salary levels of Shanghai people. Among recent ex-mayors of Shanghai, Huang was also the least popular, due to his suppression of popular mayor Xu Kuangdi. Huang's reputation in the city is incomparable to that of Zhu Rongji or even Chen Liangyu, and had a very negative image.
Due to his extremely low popularity inside the party and in the public eye, Huang's move to Beijing after Jiang Zemin's retirement in 2002 was subject to great controversy.
Huang is widely believed to be implicated in the Shanghai real estate scandals involving Zhou Zhengyi, one of Shanghai's big-name business elites. Huang did little to stop monopolies in Shanghai's booming real estate sector, and there was some discontent and public protests resulted from in residents being evicted from their homes to make way for new construction. Zhou was eventually charged with multiple counts of fraud, but was only sentenced to three years in prison, which analysts speculated was largely due to Huang's exerting his influence on the municipal courts. In addition, Huang's wife, Yu Huiwen, controlled the Shanghai pension fund, and was linked to Zhang Rongkun, who was at the centre of allegations of misappropriation of the fund's money. Huang's brother, who was made a high-ranking executive of a Pudong development firm, moved funds for personal uses.
National politics
Huang was one of the patronage appointments from Jiang's Shanghai clique to China's top decision-making body, becoming one of the nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee. He received the lowest number of votes among the Politburo members elected in 2002. He received just 1,455 votes in favour, out of 2,074 votes cast, but 300 votes against; this unusually low affirmation ratio is considered by many political analysts as a rejection in effect.
His position as Executive Vice-Premier is considered largely a figurehead role and has very little power, especially when compared to previous Executive Vice-Premiers Yao Yilin and Li Lanqing. His official portfolios are to oversee finance and banking.
Although the national media stressed his return, Huang is believed to be next in the firing line in the corruption probe after the dismissal of his close colleague Chen Liangyu in September 2006. Huang's involvement with the Shanghai Pension Fund Scandals is unclear, as the Chinese government has thus far kept much of the investigation under wraps.
As one of the China's most partisan politicians, his departure would be seen by analysts as a further shift in the balance of power away from Jiang Zemin in favour of Hu Jintao.
State of health
Illness
In February 2006, the South China Morning Post reported that Huang was seriously ill, and was expected to step down. Although some government officials said that he had pancreatic cancer, the party never officially disclosed the nature of his condition. In stating that Huang was recovering from an undisclosed illness, official sources inadvertently revealed that he was ill. No reports were confirmed, and state media had no mention of Huang since his last January appearance. He was absent from the 2006 NPC session.
On 17 March, sources reported that he was near death. Nevertheless, some sources suggested his sudden disappearance from the public might also have been the result of an internal power struggle, in which Huang was purged to make way for and loyalists.
Huang attended a Science and Technology forum in Beijing on 5 June 2006, which some suggest was for the sole purpose of letting the public know that he was still alive and well.
After giving a keynote speech at the State-Owned Enterprise executives' conference on 5 January 2007, he was notably absent at the Central Conference on Financial Affairs later on that month. Although his condolences were accounted for, rank-appropriate, during Communist elder Bo Yibo's funeral, his absence prompted speculation that Huang's critical condition was preventing him from carrying out his official duties. Hong Kong media speculated that Huang was undergoing treatment in Shanghai. Huang reappeared, looking very frail, during the in March 2007.
It was widely speculated that Huang had already requested to be allowed to resign by March 2007, and that afterwards his normally powerful position became purely ceremonial. He had reportedly handed over his role of oversight of Financial Affairs portfolio to premier Wen Jiabao in January. It had been expected that Huang would formally retire by the in November 2007, where there would be a major reshuffle of posts of party apparatus.
Official sources reported no significant events after he attended a panel discussion with legislators from Shanghai on 7 March 2007.
Huang was reported, at the end of April 2007, to have left Shanghai, and had been admitted to the 301 Military Hospital in Beijing to receive treatment. There were further reports on 8 May that his condition had deteriorated.
False media reports
Citing sources inside the 301 Military Hospital in Beijing, The Times reported that he had died on the morning of 9 May 2007, and the next day noted the "surprise" of its source in the hospital at the State council's denial. Reports were widely circulated.
Phoenix Television was the only Chinese station to broadcast the news, did so on its on-screen ticker from about 19h00. However, at 19h30, the denied reports that Huang Ju died. Phoenix retracted and issued an apology at around 20h00. It was reported that the south-west wing of the 301 Military Hospital had been completely closed off; all media were reminded that official news would be disseminated by , and that all websites were to strictly observe editorial guidance from the official news agency.
There is some speculation as to the political motivations of the Phoenix Television disclosure: on one hand, the station is a News Corporation affiliate with strong viewer base in Guangdong province. Phoenix, which sees itself as a pioneer of press freedom in China, continues to push against the reporting controls on media imposed by the state. On the other hand, leaders in the politically rebellious province would likely gain an advantage in the powerplay to preserve the status quo.
Analysts believe that traditional secrecy in China over the health of top officials has always existed so that any possible political instability is avoided. Rumours of Huang's death, which had circulated 3 times before the formal Xinhua announcement, had been used as excuses for venting anger at social and political problems. The timing of the death is particularly sensitive due to the forthcoming anniversary of the Tiananmen protests of 1989.
Death
On 29 May, Huang was elected as one of Shanghai's local party representatives to the Party's 17th Party Congress to be held in November 2007.
On 2 June 2007, Huang's death in Beijing was announced. Unprecedentedly, the English and Chinese versions of his obituary were relayed simultaneously to the country and the world only a few hours after his death, at around 6:30AM Beijing time. His death was the top story on the National News program at 7PM, where news anchor in black suits read off the 155 word dry and sober obituary, and no evaluation of his legacy. The screen simply displayed "Comrade Huang Ju has passed away." Official Chinese news agency reported that Huang had died at 2:03AM, of an unnamed illness, at age 69.
In his concise official obituary, which was the top story on all Chinese news websites, he was hailed as a "long-tested and faithful Communist fighter and an outstanding leader of the party and the state." Many believe this to be contrary to how he is regarded within the party and by the general public, but is rather a political means to "calm the storm" before the 17th Party Congress of the Communist Party is held in November 2007.
Websites reporting Huang Ju's death have disallowed discussions on the issue, and internet forums have censored all negative comments and speculation about Huang Ju's political life. In Shanghai, where Huang is most well known as the city's former Mayor, reception of his death has been very cold . Among the mayors of Shanghai, Huang has received the lowest ratings, while his contemporaries, Zhu Rongji and Xu Kuangdi, were generally liked by the public. As a result Shanghai has not seen any public displays of mourning.
Huang was the first member to die in office since Chairman Mao Zedong in September 1976, some thirty years earlier, and the highest ranking communist leader to die in office since economic reforms began in 1978. He is the only Executive Vice-Premier ever to die in office.
Funeral
Huang's funeral was the highest-ranking affair for any Communist leader since Deng Xiaoping's state funeral in 1997. It was the top story on CCTV's National News at 7PM on 5 June 2007, and occupied well over ten minutes of broadcast time in the half-hour program. Despite its priority and importance, however, Huang's funeral was noticeably simpler than that of previous leaders. The official "funeral" designation for deceased leaders was not used; rather, it was termed a "Send-off ceremony" . Analysts suggest that this may become the new trend for Chinese leaders. Huang's legacy was evaluated very highly in the official state media, which called him an "important member of the Central Committee Leadership under General Secretary Hu Jintao who dedicated his heart to the development of the Party and the State, and offered all of his intellectual strength and power for the cause." Noticeably, former President Jiang Zemin, in official footage, was in tears as he shook the hands of Huang's widow Yu Huiwen . Interestingly, the funeral coverage began with Zeng Qinghong standing at the hospital awaiting Huang Ju's funeral procession, and not with Hu Jintao. All Chinese leaders, including former Premier Zhu Rongji, attended the ceremony.
Political impact
Huang's death also opens a vacancy which preludes the possible installation of a Hu Jintao ally into the positions of Politburo Standing Committee member, as well as Executive Vice-Premier, making the transition to a consolidated Hu Jintao government more likely later this year in the 17th Party Congress.
According to most observers, Huang's death would have little effect on Chinese politics, largely because Huang had been out of the public scene for over a year prior to his death, and the news was long expected. Huang's departure is nevertheless seen as a major blow to the "Shanghai Clique", loyal to former President Jiang Zemin, who has been involved in a constant power struggle with Hu Jintao. Huang, along with disgraced Shanghai Party Chief Chen Liangyu who is currently undergoing investigation for charges of fraud and corruption, were both staunch opponents of Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao.
Personal
Huang was married to Yu Huiwen , who was an executive on a Shanghai Pensions board, and believed to be involved in corruption cases in the city. In February 1995, his daughter, Huang Fan , married Fang Yiwei , the son of Fang Dachuan , a pro-Taiwan newspaperman in San Francisco, for which Huang was criticized by political rivals.
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