ZHAO ZIYANG
CONFIDENTIAL
Premier of the State Council.
Acting General Secretary
of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
Member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo.
1. Zhao Ziyang was born in Henan Province on 17 October
1919 and educated to secondary school level. He joined
the Communist Youth League in 1932, and the Chinese
Communist Party in 1938.
2. Zhao played a key role in carrying out land reform in
South China's Guangdong Province. In 1965 he became
First Party Secretary of Guangdong
the youngest in
China. Zhao suffered during the Cultural Revolution,
being denounced a "capitalist roader" and paraded through
the streets in a dunce's cap.
3. In 1975 Zhao became First Party Secretary in Sichuan
Province, where he began the economic reforms which
became a model for the rest of China.
4
a.
In 1980, Zhao was made Premier and put in charge of
national reform. He is highly competent and has become a
self-assured international statesman. Since 1982 he has
travelled extensively (though he speaks no foreign
language) and has twice visited the UK (1979 and 1985).
Last year he toured Eastern Europe. He was appointed
FC6AAM
CONFIDENTIAL