Wan Li

Wan was born into a poor family. From early childhood he strove to get an education, in 1939 he was admitted to college in the city of Qufu. There he began to attend classes at a book club to study Marxist-Leninist works. He joined the anti-Japanese revolutionary movement. Upon returning to his hometown, Dongping became a part-time teacher, devoting most of his time to revolutionary agitation for active resistance to the Japanese invaders.

Member of the CCP since 1936

• 1937-1938 - Secretary of the party committee in Dongping,
• 1938-1940 - Head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Taichi Region Committee
• 1940 - Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Committee of the CPC of West Shandong,
• 1940-1947 - Secretary of the party committees of the 2nd, 7th and 8th district committees of the Soviet district of Hebei-Shandong-Henan.

In the last period of the Civil War, he served as secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Hebei-Shandong-Henan (1947-1949).

After the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Department of Finance of the Nanjing Military City Committee, Director of the Department of Economics and Head of the City Construction Bureau. Then he was transferred to work as deputy head of the Southwestern Military Industrial and Administrative Committee of the Industrial Department (1949-1952), where he met with Deng Xiaoping .

In 1952 he was transferred to leadership work in Beijing.

• 1953-1955 - Deputy Minister of Architectural Design,
• 1955-1958 - Minister of Urban Development.

In 1958, he served as Secretary of the Penkin City Committee of the CCP and Vice Mayor of Beijing. In this post, he played a leading role in the construction of the Great Hall of National Assemblies in Beijing in preparation for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

He became a victim of the Cultural Revolution ^[2] . He was sent to solitary confinement, and then sent to "reeducation by labor." In 1973 he was rehabilitated ^[3] and reinstated at his posts in Beijing.

In 1975-1976 - Minister of Railways of China . In 1977, he held the post of First Deputy Minister of Light Industry.

In 1977-1980 - First Secretary of the CPC Committee of Anhui Province, at the same time in 1978-1979 the chairman of its revolutionary committee (regional government). He gained fame as a reformer due to the fact that he agreed to allocate public land for rent to peasants who could leave themselves surplus products ^{[4] [5]} . A saying even appeared among the people: "If you want to eat rice, then look for it at Wan Li."

In 1980, he was elected to the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.

Since 1980 - Deputy Prime Minister of the State Council of the PRC, Chairman of the State Agro-Industrial Commission, in 1983-1988. - First-rank Vice Premier of the State Council of the PRC in the governments of Zhao Ziyang (until 1987) and then Li Peng .

He was close to Zhao Ziyang ^{[6] [2]} .

In 1988-1993 - Chairman of the NPC SC . (In 1958, he became secretary of the Beijing CCP City Committee, then the mayor of the city was Peng Zhen , who was later replaced by Wan Li as chairman of the NPC SC). Its promotion in the party was opposed by its conservative circles. During the Tiananmen Square Events, he paid an official visit to the United States and Canada, and returned to China when the party leadership, headed by Deng Syalopin, decided to suppress student unrest.

Member of the CPC Central Committee since the 11th convocation (since 1977), Secretary of the CPC Central Committee of 11-12 convocations (since 1980), member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee of 12 to 13 convocations (1982-1992).

Since 1993 he was retired.

In 2004, he called for democratic reform of the party’s decision-making system. He also advocated the rehabilitation of Zhao Ziyang ^[5] .

By some, he was included in the Eight Immortals of the Chinese Communist Party ^[6] .

He was married (wife died in 2003), four sons and a daughter.

• Lawrence R. Sullivan. Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Communist Party. 2011.P. 267.
• Wan Li. Britannica kids
• Comrade Wan Li Dies
• [2]
• [3]