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Josephine Ma

Song Ping, a veteran Chinese revolutionary who lived through five generations of Communist Party leaders, has died at the age of 108.
He died at 3.36pm in Beijing on Wednesday, state news agency Xinhua reported, describing him as a loyal communist fighter, and an outstanding state and party leader.
Song’s career began in the 1930s before the founding of the People’s Republic including a spell as political secretary to the future premier Zhou Enlai.
Song held many important positions during the following decades and his career peaked when he became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the top decision-making body, in 1989. He retired in 1992, at the age of 75.

Born in April 1917 in Ju county, Shandong province, Song joined the Communist Party at the age of 19 in 1937.
He was a graduate of the National Southwestern Associated University, a wartime university formed by merging students from various institutions. In 1938, he arrived at Yanan, where the party had set up its base after the Long March, and became acquainted with party heavyweight Chen Yun, who later became his political mentor.
In the early 1940s, Song was sent to the party’s underground office in Chongqing, the wartime capital, to work as a senior propaganda officer and served as Zhou’s secretary between 1938 and 1946.
After the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, Song worked closely with Chen – the vice-premier in charge of finance and economic affairs – on economic policy, holding posts including vice-minister of labour, and vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission.
Both Song and Chen were considered hardliners in their later years as they believed in market regulation and a planned economy.
In the 1960s, Song was sent to oversee the “third front construction”, a policy of shifting key industries to remote inland areas to protect the country’s industrial base in the event of war.
He was sidelined during the early years of the Cultural Revolution but became more prominent after Deng Xiaoping, the future paramount leader, was rehabilitated in the early 1970s. He was given leadership roles in Gansu province, where he was party chief between 1977 and 1982.
One of his most important legacies from his time in Gansu and a later spell as head of the party’s Central Organisation Department was talent-spotting future leaders. These included both the future president Hu Jintao and future premier Wen Jiabao, who were put on the fast track to promotion after spells working under him in the northwestern province.

Song also reportedly played an important role in the promotion of Zhu Rongji, another former premier, by recommending him to Chen.
Song, along with future leader Jiang Zemin, was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee in 1989 after the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen protest movement, as Deng reorganised the leadership after the toppling of former party chief Zhao Ziyang, who was seen as too sympathetic to the protesters.
Song stepped down in 1992 at the age of 75 together with another hardliner, Yao Yilin. Deng reportedly wanted to put more reformists in senior roles as part of his attempts to boost the economy.
Song still yielded considerable influence after his retirement and, along with Chen, was seen as one of the main upholders of fiscal conservatism and ideological orthodoxy.
He also continued to attend party congresses as the leadership was passed on to Jiang, then Hu and finally to Xi Jinping.
While the influence of party elders has dwindled under Xi, Song’s continued presence at important party events suggested a degree of continuity.
In 2021, Song, then aged 104, joined other former and serving leaders on Tiananmen Gate in central Beijing to mark the party’s centenary.
The following year he served as a member of the presidium that oversaw the most recent party congress, where Xi broke with recent precedent by securing a third term as party secretary.


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China’s Communist Party

Song Ping, ‘loyal communist fighter’, dies aged 108 after career that spanned decades

Song Ping has died in Beijing, aged 108.  Photo: Simon Song 

Song Ping (left) and former vice-president Zeng Qinghong at the opening Communist Party’s national congress in Beijing in October, 2022. Photo: Kyodo

Song Ping (left) worked with Hu Jintao, who went on to become president. Photo: Handout

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Song worked with several generations of leaders, starting as Zhou Enlai’s secretary and later talent-spotted future president Hu Jintao


Song worked with several generations of leaders, starting as Zhou Enlai’s secretary and later talent-spotted future president Hu Jintao.


Song Ping, ‘loyal communist fighter’, dies aged 108 after career that spanned decades

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Song worked with several generations of leaders, starting as Zhou Enlai’s secretary and later talent-spotted future president Hu Jintao

Song worked with several generations of leaders, starting as Zhou Enlai’s secretary and later talent-spotted future president Hu Jintao