Chen Liangyu - Rise To Power

Rise To Power

Chen graduated from the People's Liberation Army Institute of Logistics Engineering, majoring in architecture. He had two years of experience working in the military between 1968–1970 as part of the PLA Army 6716 Squadron. From September 1970 to March 1983, Chen worked at the Shanghai Pengpu Machinery Factory as a worker and estimator. He was eventually promoted to capital construction branch vice-section chief. He also went on a year-long sabbatical to Tongji University. In March 1983 he was promoted to become deputy plant manager of the Shanghai Pengpu machine factory, as well as the party committee deputy secretary of the Shanghai Metallurgy Mining Machinery Company. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in April 1980. By March 1984, Chen gained further promotion, becoming the CPC Secretary for Shanghai's Electronic Appliances Bureau. Between January 1985 and February 1987 he became bureau chief and assistant commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee – Old cadre bureau.

In February 1987, Chen gained a posting as the new magistrate for Huangpu District in Shanghai. During his tenure, he went on sabbatical at the University of Birmingham on public administration while holding the position.

Chen was promoted to be Deputy Mayor of Shanghai in 1996, concurrently holding the CPC Vice-Secretary position. As then Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin made his political manoeuvers before the 16th Party Congress in 2002 to strengthen the Shanghai power base with his loyalties, Chen became the beneficiary, replacing then Mayor Xu Kuangdi, becoming Mayor of Shanghai in late 2002, and Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee in February 2003. He was therefore granted membership in the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee. As an ally of former General Secretary Jiang Zemin, Chen was to keep Jiang's Shanghai base of power while Hu Jintao was given all official positions of power. Chen is believed to be linked to real estate magnate and banker Zhou Zhengyi in the Shanghai Real Estate scandals, where residents were forced to relocate for new housing developments where old style apartments were being demolished to build modern-style condominiums.