{"id":2493,"date":"2026-08-12T10:40:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T10:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2493"},"modified":"2026-08-12T10:40:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T10:40:53","slug":"ex-chinese-premier-zhu-rongji-architect-of-growth-dies-of-illness-at-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2493","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, architect of growth, dies of illness at 97"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BEIJING (AP) \u2014 Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji has died, according to state media. The impatient, sharp-tongued reformer helped ignite China\u2019s explosive economic boom by forcing wrenching change on state industry in the 1990s and leading the country into the World Trade Organization.<\/p>\n

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The official Xinhua news agency reported that Zhu died of illness in Beijing at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday. He was 97 years old.<\/p>\n

Once sent into rural exile to do manual labor for praising reforms in other communist countries, Zhu pushed through a dizzying array of changes as premier, China\u2019s top economic post, from 1998 to 2003.<\/p>\n

Zhu clashed with Communist Party conservatives and state industry bosses as he pushed state-owned companies to become efficient and profitable. That cost millions of layoffs, but helped propel China to overtake Japan as the second-largest economy behind the United States in 2010.<\/p>\n

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Building on former leader Deng Xiaoping\u2019s 1979 reforms, Zhu is credited with supplying the resourcefulness and tenacity to push through history-making changes such as China\u2019s WTO membership, which helped to transform China into the world\u2019s biggest exporter.<\/p>\n

Those changes helped to keep economic growth above 8% a year from 2000-2010, peaking at 14.2% in 2007.<\/p>\n

Named premier in 1998 at age 69, Zhu became a popular figure by criticizing official bungling and graft and accepting blame when the government fell short. His demanding style earned him the nicknames Boss and Zhu Fengzi, or Madman Zhu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have prepared 100 coffins here \u2014 99 for corrupt officials and one for myself,\u201d Zhu said in 1998, according to the party newspaper People\u2019s Daily.<\/p>\n

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Zhu ranked No. 3 in the party hierarchy behind President Jiang Zemin<\/span> and Li Peng, chairman of the ceremonial legislature, the National People\u2019s Congress. But he was a technician without his own power base. Zhu complained that allowed officials to ignore his orders.<\/p>\n

Zhu made his name as a deputy premier in the 1990s by crushing inflation. He enforced price controls and cut off loans to money-losing state companies, rebuffing resistance by local leaders \u2014 a pattern Zhu would repeat as he fought conservatives over the pace of reform.<\/p>\n

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Zhu led efforts to secure WTO membership following marathon negotiations that began in the 1980s. That status would enshrine free trade as a national commitment, giving Zhu a tool to force local officials to stop protecting favored companies.<\/p>\n

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