bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Guangdong leader who blazed the new trail
Some say that if it were not for Ren Zhongyi , the start of Guangdong's programme of opening up and reform would have been delayed for a decade.
Ren, who died in Guangzhou three years ago at the age of 91, was the province's party secretary  for the first half of the 1980s and  is largely credited with steering it through the riskiest period of economic change.
His achievements in that post  were, and still are, widely recognised by both  rightists and  leftists in the Communist Party - despite his reputation as an outspoken advocate of political liberalisation.
Ren was born in Hebei  province's Wei county in 1914 and spent his early career in Heilongjiang  and Liaoning  provinces as a Communist Party official. He was in Liaoning, as party secretary in October 1980, when party  general secretary Hu Yaobang  called him to Beijing.
Hu told Ren that it would be impossible to fulfil his earlier request to establish a special economic zone in Dalian , Liaoning,  according to Ren's wife Wang Xuan , a former vice-mayor of Guangzhou.
'But the central government has decided to send you where there already are special economic zones - Guangdong province,' Hu reportedly said. Ren hit the ground running in Guangdong  in November  1980 as party secretary,  immediately putting his reform policies into practice.
They included encouraging rural production based on individual households, easing restrictions on pricing and transactions in wet markets, supporting private enterprises and encouraging the introduction of foreign capital. Within months the province began emerging from the devastation of the Cultural Revolution, and its grinding poverty began to ease.
But all was not well. The changes also helped foster a number of economic crimes, including smuggling across the border with Hong Kong,  prompting  discontent among heavyweight conservatives in Beijing.
In February 1982 the central government suddenly convened a symposium specifically on Guangdong and Fujian , the only two provinces carrying out the opening-up and reform policy.
Hardliners dominated the meeting and they strongly condemned the smuggling in Guangdong. They pledged a heavy-handed crackdown,  including the execution of  officials.
Ren responded by convening a meeting in Guangzhou, where he convinced most of the province's leading cadres that  Guangdong's reforms could continue in tandem with the crackdown on economic crimes.
He promised to personally shoulder responsibility for any mistakes made during the implementation of the reform policy.
His  commitments went a long way to reassure the worried local cadres, even though Wang Zhong , the county head of Haifeng ,  was put to death for dereliction of duty and corruption over the rampant smuggling  from Hong Kong.
Ren was running against political headwinds during that anti-smuggling period, says Li Ziliu , the Shunde  county party secretary who attended the  meeting.
'I guess the development of Guangdong would have suffered from a setback of eight or 10 years - and at least half of the province's cadres would have been thrown in jail - but for Mr Ren's boldness and shouldering of responsibility,' Mr Li said. 'I'm not Ren's only admirer.  Many Guangdong cadres still respect him.'
But not long after the Guangdong meeting, some conservative central leaders unfolded a new offensive against the reformers, complaining that the province's reforms  threatened the planned economy.
Hu once again summoned Ren to Beijing and told him: 'Comrade Ziyang [premier Zhao Ziyang ] and I have already handed out our self-criticisms. How about you? Could you write one yourself?'
Ren wrote his first self-criticism to the central government, but the experience disturbed the committed party loyalist for the rest of his life.
Rumours began to circulate that a hardliner would be appointed to rule Guangdong and that Ren might be transferred out of the province.
Ms Wang said this was the hardest time for her husband.  'I was fully aware of the overwhelming stress Zhongyi was under. He used to work deep into the night in those days.' But Ren did not give up, and pushed ahead with his changes in a low-profile way - implanting a bold openness towards change in the thinking of Guangdong officials and residents.
In February 1983 another well-known reformist pioneer, Liang Xiang  - then both the party head and mayor of Shenzhen - told the visiting Hu and Ren that he did not have a clear understanding of the role of the special economic zone.
Ren told him foreign capital was necessary for the reforms to succeed.  'It is a credit to introduce foreign investments. Please don't talk about doctrine, but focus on pragmaticism,' Ren said.
Finally, in January 1984, Ren saw that his efforts were bearing fruit. Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping  visited Guangdong that month and Ren told him about the reform programme's achievements, including the drop in commodity prices and the rapid economic growth in Shenzhen. That renewed Deng's confidence in the policy.
Based on that meeting,  Deng announced that Shenzhen's  experience  proved  it was correct policy to set up special economic zones. That  breathed new life into the reform process, and Deng proposed that 14 more coastal cities follow Shenzhen's lead.
When Ren took up the top job in Guangdong, the province was languishing near the bottom of the mainland's economic league table. But since 1985 it has  led the country in gross domestic product.  Near the end of his life,  Ren was less concerned about economics than what he saw as stalled political reform.  Ms Wang said he  maintained that political reform had to be carried out at the same time as  economic reform, or corruption would never be eradicated.
In early 2005 he told one of his attendants that his generation had devoted itself to political campaigns and struggles, but that democracy had still not been realised.
'In the hope of democracy, peace and liberty, we fought ceaselessly against the Japanese devils and then the Kuomintang. Nevertheless, we still can't see the implementation of a democratic political system even though our country has become strong and prosperous.'



One man's triumph over foes of reform