Zhu Rongji, China’s former reformist premier, dies at 97

Former Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji whose market reforms contributed to the economic boom of the country but also to the explosion of inequalities, fdied on Wednesday at the age of 97reported the state press.

Working in the field of economic planning, he was first purged from the PCC during the “Hundred Flowers Campaign” in the 1950s for his criticism of Mao’s “irrational” economic policies.

After being forgiven, he was purged again during the chaotic and violent years of the Cultural Revolution, when he was sent to work in the fields.

The CCP rehabilitated him after Mao’s death. He worked in the Ministry of Petroleum and the State Economic Commission, before attracting the attention of then-President Deng Xiaoping in 1988, when he was appointed mayor of Shanghai, China’s main economic center.