Zhou Yongkang (; born December 3, 1942) is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (2007–2012) elected Zhou to be one of the nine members of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee; the highest decision-making body of the CCP, and the center of political power in the People's Republic of China. Zhou served as the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission during his tenure; he oversaw China's security apparatus and law enforcement institutions, including courts, prosecution agencies, police forces, paramilitary forces, and intelligence organs until his retirement in 2012. In December 2014, Zhou was arrested on corruption-related charges and expelled from the Chinese Communist Party.
Zhou's career in the CCP was propelled by his involvement in the oil and gas industry, beginning as a technician at the Daqing Oil Field during the Cultural Revolution. He led the China National Petroleum Corporation from 1996 to 1998 before serving as Minister of Land and Natural Resources until 1999. Subsequently, Zhou became the Party Secretary of Sichuan, with Sichuan being China's second most populous province at the time. Zhou was a member of the Executive Meeting of the 10th State Council of China (2003–2008) as a State Councillor. During his tenure on the State Council, Zhou served as the Minister of Public Security, the Political Commissar of the People's Armed Police, a Secretary on the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and the Deputy Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. In October 2007, the 17th Central Committee elected Zhou to the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), where he served as the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. He retired at the 18th Party Congress in 2012.
In late 2013, Zhou was placed under investigation for alleged abuse of power and corruption, a decision publicly announced by state media in July 2014. He became the first Politburo Standing Committee member, and the highest-ranking official since the founding of the People's Republic of China, to be tried and convicted of corruption-related charges. Following his investigation, Zhou was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On June 11, 2015, Zhou was convicted of bribery, abuse of power, and the intentional disclosure of state secrets by the Intermediate Court in Tianjin. Zhou and his family members were said to have taken 129 million yuan (over $20 million) in bribes. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Early life Zhou was born as Zhou Yuangen () in December 1942. He is a native of Xiqiantou Village (西前头村), Wuxi County, in Jiangsu province. Xiqiantou is located outside Wuxi city proper. The majority of Xiqiantou residents were surnamed "Zhou". Zhou took on the surname of his mother because his father, whose surname was Lu, was a "live-in son-in-law" of his maternal grandparents. Upon joining the Zhou household when he married, his father took on his wife's surname and became known as Zhou Yisheng (周义生).
Zhou was the eldest of three sons. Zhou's family was poor; his family made a living farming and fishing for the Asian swamp eel. Zhou was sent to school with the financial assistance of his family friends. In 1954, Zhou was enrolled at one of the two top middle schools in the eastern Wuxi area. It was during this period that Zhou changed his name to "Yongkang" on the advice of his teacher, because there was another person in his class with an identical name.
Zhou excelled at school and was eventually accepted to enroll at the prestigious Suzhou High School, one of the most prominent secondary schools in the Jiangnan region. Zhou had good grades and was involved in extra-curricular activities, including the school's political ideology group as well as events promoting literacy. In 1961, after obtaining stellar results on his Gaokao exams, he was admitted to the Beijing Institute of Petroleum (now China University of Petroleum) and became the pride of his village. He majored in geophysical survey and exploration. He graduated in 1966.
In November 1964, he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution ensnared Beijing's higher education institutions. Zhou was told by the authorities to "wait for an assignment" while the political struggles wreaked havoc on China's universities. He waited for a year. He joined geological survey work in north-east China in 1967, assigned to become an intern technician at factory No. 673 at the Daqing oil field. In 1970, Zhou was promoted to lead the geological survey division of a local department charged with carrying out an ambitious petroleum drilling initiative set out by the Party's top leadership.
Career Zhou worked in the oil industry from 1967 to 1998.
Oil exploration in Liaoning In 1973, Zhou was promoted to head the Geophysical Exploration Department of the Liaohe Petroleum Exploration Bureau, located in Panjin, Liaoning. Liaohe would eventually become one of the China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) largest oil fields. Zhou was seen as a hard-working and emotionally mature presence to his colleagues. He abstained from drinking and smoking, and was well known for his ability to reputedly talk unscripted for hours on end to keep his colleagues engaged.
At Liaohe, Zhou met Wang Shuhua (), a factory worker from Hebei province, whom he later married. As the Liaohe exploration team grew, Zhou eventually became responsible for over 2,300 employees in his department. His work consisted mainly of leading teams to unexplored, barren territory to conduct site surveys to assess the potential for future oil drilling. He was known to be great at maintaining good interpersonal relationships with his superiors and subordinates, and gained significant personal clout. During some years, Zhou did not go back to his home in Jiangsu, even during the Chinese New Year holiday period, which is a time traditionally reserved for family reunions. Instead, Zhou would visit his colleagues who were working in harsh winter conditions in remote areas. Beginning in the 1970s, Zhou would gain rapid career advancement. He owed much of his career growth to his mentors from the Beijing Institute of Petroleum, who were working in executive positions at the Liaohe oil fields at the time. In particular, the university's president was known to be fond of Zhou's skills and was eager to promote him. In 1983, with the director of the Liaohe Oil Field Management Bureau being transferred for a job in Beijing, Zhou was promoted to manage the day-to-day affairs of the oil field. Moreover, given the oil field's prominence in the municipal affairs of the city of Panjin, Zhou became concurrently the Mayor of Panjin and the city's deputy party secretary. Zhou's stint as mayor was his first major role in government.
National oil sector In 1985, Zhou Yongkang left Liaoning for Beijing to become the Deputy Minister of the Petroleum Industry. In 1988, the ministry later folded and became a state-owned enterprise, the predecessor of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's largest energy company. Zhou became a member of the company's senior executive team and was named deputy general manager. In March 1989, as part of the government's overall strategy to move oil production from east to west, Zhou led an oil and gas exploration and survey team to begin work in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang region of far-west China, near the city of Korla.
In the mid-1990s, Zhou spearheaded CNPC's "go global" initiatives, winning bids for large projects in Sudan, Venezuela, and Kazakhstan. Zhou was particularly involved in the Sudan Nile petroleum project, including the construction of the Greater Nile Oil Pipeline, CNPC's first major project outside of China. Zhou travelled to the African country 14 times. Beginning in 1996, Zhou became general manager (chief executive) of the CNPC.Hu Jintao, China who's who, who's who in china, China's Celebrities, Famous Chinese. China Today. Retrieved March 30, 2012. As chief executive, Zhou was instrumental in the company's restructuring and the preparation of the initial public offering of the company's subsidiary, PetroChina. In October 1997, Zhou gained a seat on the Central Committee of the Communist Party, a leadership assembly of 200 top political figures of the party.
In March 1998, Zhou was elevated to become Minister of Land and Resources in Premier Zhu Rongji's cabinet. The "mega-ministry" was created after a merger of the formerly separate Ministry of Geology and Mining, the Administration of National Land, the National Administration of Oceans, and the National Surveying and Mapping Bureau. As minister, Zhou, upon finding that his staff did not have adequate housing, initiated a housing construction program for the department's engineers and senior technical staff.
Leading Sichuan In 2000, Zhou became Party Secretary of Sichuan, the province's top political office. Sichuan was China's second most populous province at the time. Before Zhou, most of Sichuan's provincial leaders originated from the province. Zhou, an outsider, changed the province's political landscape. He spearheaded economic modernization policies, focusing on agriculture. Sichuan was known to be a province highly dependent on agriculture, and its government operated at a slower pace compared to those of China's coastal regions. Zhou was known for his quick and efficient decision-making, significantly altering the traditionally lax culture of the province's civil service.
During Zhou's tenure in Sichuan, the province's GDP grew at an average rate of 9.5% a year. One of his major achievements was securing investments from large multinationals such as Intel. The company opened a new computer chip factory near Chengdu shortly after Zhou left his post in Sichuan. He also focused on improving tourism resources, significantly revamping the Mount Emei scenic region to attract more visitors. Zhou also improved public safety in the province, for example, by enacting policies that aimed to reduce accidents in the province's water lanes. On October 20, 2000, in the spirit of attracting investment for economic development, Zhou hosted visiting Chinese and international dignitaries and businesspeople at the China Western Forum held in Chengdu.The event was noted for being a gathering of Sichuan's political and business elite at the time. Those on the guest list included Deng Hong, Li Chongxi, Ji Wenlin, Guo Yongxiang, He Huazhang, Tan Li, and Li Chuncheng. All were detained for investigation or charged with corruption related crimes fourteen years later.
While in Sichuan, he gained a reputation for dealing firmly with any signs of dissent, coming down hard on Tibetan groups and Falun Gong.
Although Zhou left Sichuan to take up national leadership positions in Beijing in 2002, he cultivated a strong power base of patronage. The elite provincial political circles were stacked with Zhou's allies, the most notable being deputy provincial party committee Secretary Li Chongxi, Chengdu party boss Li Chuncheng, and chief administrator Guo Yongxiang. Indeed, Zhou's network of patronage in Sichuan remained a highly influential force in provincial politics until the anti-corruption campaign at the end of 2012, which saw all of Zhou's proteges fall from grace.
Minister of Public Security