Direct translation
Has the successor been decided? Ding Xuexiang won Xi Jinping's trust with this incident
Reporter : Qian Qiusui / Editor: Li Hua / Source: People's Daily / https://www.aboluowang.com/2025/0723/2251651.html
Recently, the rumored list of Xi Jinping's successors also included Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang. Although the outside world believes that his ability is average, how did Ding Xuexiang gain Xi Jinping's trust? Let's take a look at the story of Ding Xuexiang and Xi Jinping in Shanghai.
In 1998, the Ministry of Machinery Industry was abolished, and the Shanghai Institute of Materials was assigned to the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission system. The following year, 37-year-old Ding Xuexiang became a cadre of the Shanghai Embassy and served as the deputy director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission at the political bureau level. The political arena in Shanghai at that time was not calm. Huang Ju, the secretary of the municipal party committee, was Jiang's former secretary-general and a traditional bureaucrat. Mayor Xu Kuangdi was Zhu Rongji's favorite and a scientist. The two people had very different ideas. Xu Kuangdi admired Ding Xuexiang, who came from a scientific research unit, very much and pushed him to be the mayor of Zhabei District. Although it was a lower-level district in Shanghai, he also had experience in governing a local area and completed a work resume.
Soon, Xu Kuangdi reached retirement age. It is said that Huang Ju also reported Xu Kuangdi to Jiang. Jiang Zemin transferred Xu Kuangdi to the China Academy of Engineering as president, and let Huang Ju's younger brother Chen Liangyu take over as mayor. Fortunately, Xu Kuangdi's assistant Jiang Sixian was transferred to the Organization Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Ding Xuexiang was also recommended as the deputy director of the Organization Department and the director of the Personnel Bureau.
From this, we can see that although Ding Xuexiang was also born in Shanghai in his early years, he could not be regarded as Jiang's man at that time, nor could he be regarded as the mainstream faction of the Shanghai Gang, but a non-mainstream faction in the Shanghai officialdom. So he did not have the opportunity to take the classic promotion path from district mayor to district party secretary, and then to the leader. Not having been a district party secretary is also the most criticized part of his career.
Of course, Ding Xuexiang has a gentle personality, is relatively low-key, respects any leader, and works more seriously. The impression given to the outside world is that he is a scientific and technological cadre, so the factional color is not strong. Although Xu Guangdi valued him very much, Huang Ju and Chen Liangyu would not hate him, but they would not let Ding Xuexiang enter their core circle. During this period, he had more contact with Han Zheng, and Han Zheng also recognized him.
In 2006, Ding Xuexiang's career ushered in a new turning point. After the Chen Liangyu case broke out, Sun Luyi, director of the Municipal Party Committee Office, was also dismissed. After Mayor Han Zheng presided over the work of the Municipal Party Committee, he needed to transfer someone who did not belong to Chen Liangyu's faction to replace Sun Luyi. As a person outside Chen Liangyu's faction, Ding Xuexiang's opportunity came. He was transferred to the deputy secretary-general of the Municipal Party Committee and director of the General Office, and returned to his old office business.
In 2007, Xi Jinping suddenly transferred to the position of Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, bringing only Zhong Shaojun from Zhejiang. At that time, the political arena in Shanghai was in a situation of panic. Because the former secretary of the Municipal Party Committee was in trouble, almost all senior cadres in Shanghai had various degrees of contact with him. They anxiously awaited the trial of the new secretary. And Xi Jinping was unsure about the big Shanghai. He did not know the history of these cadres. As the director of the Municipal Party Committee Office, Ding Xuexiang was the first person Xi Jinping contacted during his time in Shanghai, and one of the people he contacted the most.
Xi Jinping could only look for people who understood Shanghai's political scene among his friends and seek their advice. He thought of Xu Kuangdi. After Xi Jinping began to serve as the Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee in 2003, he invited Xu Kuangdi, then the President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, to lead a team to inspect Zhejiang. He also specially invited Xu Kuangdi to give lectures to cadres throughout Zhejiang Province. Xu grew up in Hangzhou and has deep feelings for Zhejiang. As a scientist and politician, his explanations of many truths are easy to understand, which deeply conquered Xi Jinping, an elementary school liberal arts student. From that time on, Xi Jinping regarded Xu Kuangdi as his senior consultant and advisor.
Xu Kuangdi served as the mayor of Shanghai for many years and knew Shanghai very well. He gave Xi Jinping, the new Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, a lot of advice. Xu also recommended several people to Xi Jinping, one of whom was Ding Xuexiang, which was equivalent to helping Ding Xuexiang endorse in front of Xi Jinping.
The situation Xi Jinping faced when he first arrived in Shanghai was very similar to the situation Jiang Zemin faced when he arrived at the central government in 1989. Xi Jinping faced the situation after his predecessor Chen Liangyu's incident, and Jiang Zemin faced the situation after the fall of Zhao Ziyang. Xi Jinping has to face one mother-in-law, Jiang Zemin, while Jiang Zemin faces two mothers-in-law, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun. Xi Jinping faces Han Zheng, a local tyrant who is in charge of Shanghai's work and does not know who is his enemy, while Jiang Zemin faces Li Peng, a local tyrant who is in charge of the central work and does not know who is his enemy. They may be set up at any time.
Xi Jinping brought Zhong Shaojun to Shanghai. In this complicated situation, Xi Jinping met Ding Xuexiang, director of the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Ding Xuexiang tried his best to help Xi Jinping familiarize himself with the situation in Shanghai, racked his brains to give advice to his new master, and helped him complete the most difficult transition stage.
Ding Xuexiang has two advantages. One is that he is familiar with the work of the General Office, and the other is that he once served as the deputy director of the Organization Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the director of the Personnel Bureau. He is familiar with the situation of Shanghai cadres and can give Xi Jinping many personnel suggestions.
For Ding Xuexiang, the most urgent task is to assist Xi Jinping in convening the 9th Party Congress in Shanghai. This Party Congress is the most important task and test given to Xi Jinping by the Central Committee. It also plays a decisive role in stabilizing the Shanghai officialdom, which was in a state of panic after the Chen Liangyu case.
Xi Jinping came to Shanghai in March 2007, and the Party Congress was held in May. There were only two months to prepare, which was quite tight. This was also the big test that Ding Xuexiang faced, and it was the busiest two months in his life.
He assisted Xi Jinping in convening four seminars, and led the team to complete the drafting of the conference report and conference work in a race against time. He almost perfectly completed this almost impossible task and passed Xi Jinping's test of his ability. It was also at this conference that Ding Xuexiang became a member of the Standing Committee and Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Not only did he complete the thrilling leap to the vice-ministerial level, he also officially became Xi Jinping's chief secretary and started a new life. Xi Jinping only stayed in office as Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee for seven months. In fact, he didn't have time to do anything big except holding the Party Congress.
At that time, it was half a year before the 17th National Congress, and the bigwigs were already planning the personnel layout for the next five years. Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong had already planned to recommend Xi Jinping as the crown prince. Therefore, Xi Jinping's performance in Shanghai is related to whether he can pass the test of the central leadership and whether he can be successfully elected as the crown prince at the 17th National Congress. The most critical thing is not what he actually did, but what kind of reputation and word of mouth he left to the outside world.
Ding Xuexiang quickly figured out the boss's needs and formulated a series of measures around this need.
The first is to create a person who is good at negotiation. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping, Ding Xuexiang took the lead in formulating the rules of procedure of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee and the working rules of the Municipal Party Committee, with the aim of leaving the impression that he is good at democratic consultation to the outside world, in order to contrast with Chen Liangyu's arbitrary rule.
The second is to create a reputation for being good at listening and caring about people's livelihood. This comes from a basic assumption that as a big leader, the more people you directly contact, the more people will say good things about you. Therefore, Ding Xuexiang set every Thursday as Xi Jinping's research day, helped Xi Jinping formulate a large-scale research plan, and traveled all over Shanghai. Ding Xuexiang also demonstrated his strong coordination and execution capabilities. Whenever Xi Jinping puts forward an idea, Director Ding can always quickly find a landing plan.
The third is the typical example of party building. The difference between Shanghai and Zhejiang is that state-owned enterprises are relatively strong, and the proportion in cities is larger than that in rural areas. Therefore, Ding Xuexiang assisted Xi Jinping in focusing on party building in state-owned enterprises and communities, and made these two brands. Of course, this is the main job of the Municipal Party Committee Organization Department. The Secretary-General of the Municipal Party Committee is a big housekeeper and an important planner. As the Secretary-General of the Municipal Party Committee, Ding Xuexiang is in charge of three virtual offices in addition to traditional departments such as the Municipal Party Committee Office and Research Office, namely the Office of the Municipal Party Committee's Financial and Economic Leading Group, the Office of the Municipal Party Committee's Decision-making Advisory Committee, and the Office of the Municipal Party Committee's Party Building Leading Group. These three offices have become Xi Jinping's think tanks and have provided a lot of reference opinions for the Municipal Party Committee's decision-making.
In 2007, the 17th National Congress was held, and Xi Jinping was elected as a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee as expected. He officially became the next generation of the crown prince. After Xi Jinping arrived in Beijing, in order to avoid being criticized, he still only brought Zhong Shaojun, his personal secretary, without Ding Xuexiang.
Xi Jinping is very familiar with Chinese history and knows that the crown prince is actually a dangerous position. If he does well, he may succeed in ascending the throne, but if he does not do well, he may be ruined. Therefore, in the five years since the 17th National Congress, Xi Jinping has been suppressing his desire for performance and power, and rarely expressed his opinions to the outside world. When it comes to employing people, Xi Jinping rarely speaks for the promotion of people from his faction, even though he is a member of the Standing Committee in charge of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. Until he took a high position, especially the layout of the 20th National Congress, almost all of them were his own people.
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