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Zhu Rongji

Born on October 1, 1928 in Changsha, Hunan, Zhu Rongji mayor and party chief in Shanghai between 1987 and 1991, before becoming vice premier and then the fifth premier of the People's Republic of China. He held that position between March 1998 and March 2003. He is known for taking a tough stance against corruption in the government and pushing difficult reforms of the state sector.

Born

23 Oct 1928

Industry

Politics

Job Title

Former Premier of China

Former US president Bill Clinton (right) and former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji appear at a press conference in April 1999. Photo: AFP

Mainland China

How Zhu Rongji’s economic legacy endures in China after former premier’s death

Remembered as a candid, decisive leader, the former Chinese premier championed entrepreneurship, welcomed foreign expertise and brought urgency to economic policymaking.

5 hours agovideocam

Diplomacy

Malaysian PM recalls relationship ‘well beyond affairs of state’ with Zhu Rongji

13 Aug 2026 - 8:13PMvideocam

China’s Communist Party

The 11 key achievements of China’s ‘iron premier’ Zhu Rongji – in his own words

13 Aug 2026 - 5:22PM

China’s Communist Party

Zhu Rongji reforms fuel China’s economic transformation

Straight-talking premier laid much of the groundwork for China’s economic boom, including admission to the World Trade Organization.

13 Aug 2026 - 5:15PM

Zhu Rongji during a 1999 visit to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Photo: Reuters

Obituaries

Video | Remembering Zhu Rongji

Zhu had a major role in reshaping China’s economy, first as vice-premier and then as premier.

13 Aug 2026 - 1:23PM

China’s Communist Party

Obituary | Zhu Rongji: leading China’s transformation through ‘minefield or abyss’

China’s bold economic tsar who drove sweeping SOE reforms and secured WTO entry has died aged 97.

13 Aug 2026 - 4:34AMvideocam

Hong Kong politics

John Lee leads tributes as Zhu remembered for putting steel in city’s spine

Tributes pour in for former premier Zhu Rongji from senior leaders in Hong Kong’s political and business circles.

13 Aug 2026 - 1:00PMvideocam

Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji died on Wednesday. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Mainland China

Video | Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji dies

Zhu served as China’s 5th premier from 1998 to 2003 and spearheaded the country’s entry into the WTO.

12 Aug 2026 - 8:05PM

Obituaries

Zhu Rongji, China’s chief engineer of economic reform, dies aged 97

Zhu, who rose to become premier, spearheaded China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.

13 Aug 2026 - 6:29AMvideocam

China’s Communist Party

China’s continued hunt for corrupt ‘tigers’ snares State Council veteran

Tian Xuebin, who retired as vice-minister of water resources in 2023, served under several premiers.

5 Jan 2026 - 8:18PMvideocam

Tian Xuebin, a veteran of the State Council, China’s cabinet, has been placed under investigation by the party’s top anti-corruption agency. Photo: Handout

China economy

Opinion | What Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can learn from China’s reformers

Deng Xiaoping and Zhu Rongji’s radical reforms resulted in a leaner government and more dynamic economy: the exact goals of the Musk-Ramaswamy plan.

15 Dec 2024 - 9:30AMvideocam

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with son on his shoulders, is to co-chair the newly created Department of Government Efficiency with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (in a blue tie). Both men seen before a meeting with Congress members at the US Capitol in Washington on December 5. Photo: AFP

China’s Communist Party

Change of guard at China’s track 1.5 diplomacy channel founded by Zhu Rongji

Former vice-president Wang Qishan becomes honorary chair of Tsinghua University advisory board chaired by Apple’s Tim Cook.

31 Oct 2024 - 9:00PMvideocam

China's ageing population

Editorial | Raising the retirement age inevitable amid China’s demographic changes

It is never a good time to tell people they have to work longer but if China’s public pension system is to be saved, there really is no alternative.

18 Sep 2024 - 11:52PM

China economy

Editorial | Fiscal shake-up must be a success for sake of the China economy

Ambitious plan by third plenum aims to overhaul taxation system to help cash-strapped local governments and the people they serve.

25 Jul 2024 - 12:17AM

Expensive public services have cut into consumer spending as Chinese save to care for their children, elderly parents and themselves. Photo: Shutterstock

Two Sessions 2024

Opinion | Why I miss the Chinese premier’s annual press conference after the ‘two sessions’

The much-anticipated press conference at the close of the National People’s Congress was cancelled, discontinuing a customary practice that was established in the early 1990s.

12 Mar 2024 - 8:55AMvideocam

Chinese Premier Li Qiang presides over a press conference after the closing ceremony of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 13, 2023. Photo: AP

China economy

Opinion | ‘Capital’ is still a dirty word in China – it shouldn’t be

Despite its role in supporting China’s economic boom, private capital still carries a whiff of notoriety in the country.

22 Aug 2023 - 7:00AM

Banking & finance

Mao’s former barefoot doctor recalls sole foreign takeover of Chinese bank

Shan Weijian was the co-managing partner of San Francisco-based private-equity firm Newbridge Capital when it took over a controlling stake in Shenzhen Development Bank in 2005.

2 Feb 2023 - 5:19PMvideocam

Jiang Zemin

China’s economic rise under Jiang Zemin offered lessons that resonate today

When China was at a critical crossroads in 1989, Jiang helped lay the groundwork for an economic transformation, and it largely hinged on improving relations with Western countries.

6 Dec 2022 - 10:08AMvideocam

Jiang Zemin

Editorial | Hong Kong handover just one milestone for man who led China out of crisis and into world

With the country at the crossroads, Jiang Zemin kept opening up and reform on track, put paid to international isolation and ensured the city’s governing principle of ‘one country, two systems’ was adhered to.

2 Dec 2022 - 3:02AMvideocam

China's economic recovery

5 defining moments for the Chinese economy over the past 25 years

As debate swirls in Beijing about how the government should respond to current economic challenges, we take a look back in recent history to see how China has weathered previous periods of economic uncertainty.

20 Apr 2022 - 9:03AMvideocam

China’s Communist Party

Xi tries to build symbolic bridge between Communist Party’s past and future

The party chief urged young Chinese to follow the party, while paying tribute to past leaders such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

1 Dec 2022 - 12:44AMvideocam

Xi Jinping was flanked by former and current senior leaders as he delivered the speech over looking Tiananmen Square. Photo: Reuters

China’s Communist Party turns 100

Communist Party sticks to the script on a day for young and old

Audience of more than 70,000 fills Tiananmen Square for carefully choreographed celebration and while Xi Jinping gets much of the attention, younger faces also take centre stage.

2 Jul 2021 - 12:04AMvideocam

Choir members wave during the centenary celebration in Tiananmen Square on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

China economy

Opinion | Xi Jinping’s next priority? Revitalising China’s rural regions

For President Xi Jinping, a yawning urban-rural divide is not helping the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation, nor the nation’s newly adopted strategy of dual circulation.

4 Jan 2021 - 10:24PMvideocam

Diplomacy

No clear end to China-Canada relations slide which began with Huawei arrest

Economists and global affairs experts find no way forward as 50 years of friendship continues to sour on many fronts.

25 Dec 2021 - 5:53AMvideocam

China economy

‘Don’t waste crisis’: EU business group presses China to open markets

European chamber’s annual survey finds companies grappling with a more politicised, state-dominated environment.

10 Jun 2020 - 9:46AMvideocam

A European business group has called on China to take bold steps to open up its economy. Photo: Reuters

China economy

Son of ex-China premier Zhu Rongji urges reforms, not easing, for growth

Zhu Yunlai, the former president of China’s first investment bank, says it is ‘impossible’ to rescue any economy by continuously printing money.

17 Nov 2019 - 5:02PM

Former premier Zhu Rongji is viewed as one of China’s great reformers. Photo: AFP

China economy

What will the demise of protest-ravaged Hong Kong mean for China?

Hong Kong’s protests, driven by a false sense of superiority to the mainland, are unlikely to provoke an overreaction from Chinese leaders. Beijing has no reason to fear them spreading, as its people have confidence in the government and optimism in the future.

2 Oct 2019 - 6:00AM

State-owned enterprises

The View | China can reboot SOE reform by taking a lesson from the Czechs

China, which is paying a heavy economic price for its failed reform of state-owned enterprises, can explore the successful Czech experience of tapping the expertise of private fund managers.

1 Aug 2019 - 4:10AM

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Zhu Rongji

How Zhu Rongji’s economic legacy endures in China after former premier’s death

Remembered as a candid, decisive leader, the former Chinese premier championed entrepreneurship, welcomed foreign expertise and brought urgency to economic policymaking.

Malaysian PM recalls relationship ‘well beyond affairs of state’ with Zhu Rongji

The 11 key achievements of China’s ‘iron premier’ Zhu Rongji – in his own words

Zhu Rongji reforms fuel China’s economic transformation

Straight-talking premier laid much of the groundwork for China’s economic boom, including admission to the World Trade Organization.

.css-1f6sr3w{color:#727272;}Video | Remembering Zhu Rongji

Zhu had a major role in reshaping China’s economy, first as vice-premier and then as premier.

Obituary | Zhu Rongji: leading China’s transformation through ‘minefield or abyss’

China’s bold economic tsar who drove sweeping SOE reforms and secured WTO entry has died aged 97.

John Lee leads tributes as Zhu remembered for putting steel in city’s spine

Tributes pour in for former premier Zhu Rongji from senior leaders in Hong Kong’s political and business circles.

Video | Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji dies

Zhu served as China’s 5th premier from 1998 to 2003 and spearheaded the country’s entry into the WTO.

Zhu Rongji, China’s chief engineer of economic reform, dies aged 97

Zhu, who rose to become premier, spearheaded China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.

China’s continued hunt for corrupt ‘tigers’ snares State Council veteran

Tian Xuebin, who retired as vice-minister of water resources in 2023, served under several premiers.

.css-1pcrwvc{color:#2aa191;}Opinion | What Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can learn from China’s reformers

Deng Xiaoping and Zhu Rongji’s radical reforms resulted in a leaner government and more dynamic economy: the exact goals of the Musk-Ramaswamy plan.

Change of guard at China’s track 1.5 diplomacy channel founded by Zhu Rongji

Former vice-president Wang Qishan becomes honorary chair of Tsinghua University advisory board chaired by Apple’s Tim Cook.

Editorial | Raising the retirement age inevitable amid China’s demographic changes

It is never a good time to tell people they have to work longer but if China’s public pension system is to be saved, there really is no alternative.

Editorial | Fiscal shake-up must be a success for sake of the China economy

Ambitious plan by third plenum aims to overhaul taxation system to help cash-strapped local governments and the people they serve.

Opinion | Why I miss the Chinese premier’s annual press conference after the ‘two sessions’

The much-anticipated press conference at the close of the National People’s Congress was cancelled, discontinuing a customary practice that was established in the early 1990s.

Opinion | ‘Capital’ is still a dirty word in China – it shouldn’t be

Despite its role in supporting China’s economic boom, private capital still carries a whiff of notoriety in the country.

Mao’s former barefoot doctor recalls sole foreign takeover of Chinese bank

Shan Weijian was the co-managing partner of San Francisco-based private-equity firm Newbridge Capital when it took over a controlling stake in Shenzhen Development Bank in 2005.

China’s economic rise under Jiang Zemin offered lessons that resonate today

When China was at a critical crossroads in 1989, Jiang helped lay the groundwork for an economic transformation, and it largely hinged on improving relations with Western countries.

Editorial | Hong Kong handover just one milestone for man who led China out of crisis and into world

With the country at the crossroads, Jiang Zemin kept opening up and reform on track, put paid to international isolation and ensured the city’s governing principle of ‘one country, two systems’ was adhered to.

5 defining moments for the Chinese economy over the past 25 years

As debate swirls in Beijing about how the government should respond to current economic challenges, we take a look back in recent history to see how China has weathered previous periods of economic uncertainty.

Xi tries to build symbolic bridge between Communist Party’s past and future

The party chief urged young Chinese to follow the party, while paying tribute to past leaders such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Communist Party sticks to the script on a day for young and old

Audience of more than 70,000 fills Tiananmen Square for carefully choreographed celebration and while Xi Jinping gets much of the attention, younger faces also take centre stage.

Opinion | Xi Jinping’s next priority? Revitalising China’s rural regions

For President Xi Jinping, a yawning urban-rural divide is not helping the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation, nor the nation’s newly adopted strategy of dual circulation.

No clear end to China-Canada relations slide which began with Huawei arrest

Economists and global affairs experts find no way forward as 50 years of friendship continues to sour on many fronts.

‘Don’t waste crisis’: EU business group presses China to open markets

European chamber’s annual survey finds companies grappling with a more politicised, state-dominated environment.

Son of ex-China premier Zhu Rongji urges reforms, not easing, for growth

Zhu Yunlai, the former president of China’s first investment bank, says it is ‘impossible’ to rescue any economy by continuously printing money.

What will the demise of protest-ravaged Hong Kong mean for China?

Hong Kong’s protests, driven by a false sense of superiority to the mainland, are unlikely to provoke an overreaction from Chinese leaders. Beijing has no reason to fear them spreading, as its people have confidence in the government and optimism in the future.

The View | China can reboot SOE reform by taking a lesson from the Czechs

China, which is paying a heavy economic price for its failed reform of state-owned enterprises, can explore the successful Czech experience of tapping the expertise of private fund managers.

Video | Remembering Zhu Rongji

Opinion | What Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can learn from China’s reformers