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Top 10 interesting Facts about Jiang Zemin

Jiang Zemin is a Chinese retired politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party from 1989 to 2004, and as President of the People’s Republic of China from 1993 to 2003.

He was born in July 1926 in Yangzhou city, Jiangsu Province, a small town on the banks of the Chang River west of Shanghai.

Jiang Zemin rose to fame following the 鈥楾iananmen Square鈥� protests that took place in 1989 and renowned for his key role in the success of the 鈥楥ommunist Party of China鈥� (CPC).

Below, we discuss the top 10 interesting facts about Jiang Zemin;

1. The heir to the family

Jiang Shangqing statue – Wikidata

Jiang鈥檚 uncle, Jiang Shangqing, joined the then-outlawed Communist party and died fighting the Japanese in World War II. He was considered in Jiang Zemin’s time to be a national hero.

Since Shangqing had no heirs, Shangqing’s elder brother, Jiang’s biological father Jiang Shijun, let Jiang become the adopted son of Shangqing’s wife, his aunt, Wang Zhelan. Through his adaptation, Jiang was able to continue the Shinquing’s bloodline.

At his new home, the family experienced hard times. However, his biological father who worked at the publicity department of the Nanking regime, which was a Japanese puppet government, and was considered wealthy never helped them.

2. Jiang Zemin is an engineer by profession

Graduation photo of Jian, 1947 – Wikipedia

Jiang attended the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National Central University in Nanjing before transferring to National Chiao Tung University (now Shanghai Jiao Tong University). He graduated in 1947 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in electrical engineering.

He worked in several factories as an engineer before receiving further technical training at the Stalin Automobile Works in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. After which he headed technological research institutes in various parts of China.

Eventually, he transferred to government service and acquired a spot on the 鈥楥entral Committee of the Communist Party鈥� in 1983, as the 鈥楳inister of Electric Industries.鈥�

3. A shaky political start

Young Jiang Zemin – Wikipedia

In 1985, Jiang Zemin was offered the position of the 鈥楳ayor鈥� of Shanghai, one of the busiest metropolitan cities in China.

His reign was considered to be very weak at that time. His critics dismissed him as a “flower pot”, a Chinese term for someone who only seems useful, but actually gets nothing done.

Many credited Shanghai’s growth during the period to Zhu Rongji who served as its mayor from 1988 to 1991.

4. Jiang Zemin can speak multiple languages

Jiang Zemin – Flickr

The majority of his early political career, Jiang was considered an underdog, but many critics believe because of his ability to speak several languages, he became popular with the foreign delegates and celebrities who visited China.

Jiang was known to engage foreign visitors in small talk on arts and literature in their native language, in addition to singing foreign songs in the original.

In addition to his native language, Zemin can speak Russian, Romanian, and English.

5. Jiang Zemin putting a spot to free speech

Jiang shutting down the World Economic Herald – Flickr

During his reign, Jiang Zemin was known to benefit from the use of media to promote his popularity and halt the activities of his political rivals. He was also known to even give interviews to foreign media houses.

However, when Jiang was Shanghai Party secretary during the 1989 pro-democracy movement he dismissed Qin Benli from the post of the editor-in-chief of The World Herald, a Shanghai publication well known for its outspoken and candid criticism of the regime’s policies as well as economic and political conditions in China.

He also closed down the newspaper, deeming it harmful as it had published a long article deviating from the CCP’s line.

6. Jiang Zemin raise to a prominent political leader

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 – Flickr

Jiang came to power unexpectedly as a compromise candidate following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, when he replaced Zhao Ziyang as CCP General Secretary after Zhao was ousted for his support for the student movement.

He was selected by the Party leaders as a compromise candidate over Tianjin’s Li Ruihuan, Premier Li Peng, Li Xiannian, Chen Yun, and the retired elders to become the new General Secretary.

Although Jiang was now given the top position in the party鈥檚 leadership, he was not given enough power. Over time, he earned the respect of the party鈥檚 elders and propagated against the liberalization.

As a result, within three years then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping transferred most power in the state, party and military to Jiang.

7. He introduced “socialist market economy”

Deng Xiaoping – Wikipedia

Urged by Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour in 1992 to accelerate “opening up and reform”, Jiang officially introduced the term “socialist market economy” in his 1993 speech to describe the goal of China’s economic reforms.

This marked a step forward to move China’s centrally-planned socialist economy into essentially a government-regulated capitalist market economy.

As a result, Jiang was able to regain Deng Xiaoping’s confidence. This enabled him to abolish the outdated Central Advisory Committee in 1992, an advisory body composed of revolutionary party elders.

8. China鈥檚 economy grew under the leadership of Jiang Zemin

Jiang Zemin with his wife and Bush with Laura – The Reader Wiki

In March 1993, Jiang Zemin was named the fifth president of the 鈥楻epublic of China.鈥� At the time, the country faced many issues related to corruption and unequal distribution of wealth.

Determined to turn the course of the events around, Jiang introduced reforms to bring stability to China, in 1996. China experienced substantial economic growth with the continuation of market reforms, saw the return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997 and Macau from Portugal in 1999.

Jiang improved China鈥檚 relations with the outside world, while the Communist Party maintained its tight control over the state.

Over time, China managed to maintain an annual GDP growth of 8%, eventually becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

9. Jiang Zemin is an atheist

Holy Texts – Flickr

China is officially an atheist state. Communist Party members, which Jiang Zemin is a part of, are banned from believing in or practicing any faith; there is concern that religion can function as an alternative to Communism and thus undermine loyalty to the government.

In 2001 during the implement of 鈥渇reedom for religious belief鈥� policy, Jiang said Communist Party members do not believe in any religion but treat religion with a scientific point of view.

He further stressed that  no religion has the right to override the Constitution and laws, thus religious people should love their country, support the Government, and obey the country鈥檚 laws.

10. Jiang Zemin is the longest living paramount leader

Deng, Mao and Jiang statue – Flickr

Xiaoping officially retired in 1989, but still retained his title prominent leader. With Deng鈥檚 death in 1997, Jiang became paramount leader of the People鈥檚 Republic of China. At Deng鈥檚 state funeral, Jiang delivered his eulogy.

At the age of 95 years, Jiang is the longest-living paramount leader in the history of the PRC, surpassing Deng Xiaoping on 14 February 2019.