Bai Jinian

In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisBai.

Bai Jinian
Bạch kỷ niên
Communist Party SecretaryofShaanxi
In office August 1984 – September 1987
Preceded by	Ma Wenrui
Succeeded by	Zhang Bo xing
Personal details
Born	February 19, 1926 Suide County,Shaanxi,China
Died	January 15, 2015(2015-01-15)(aged 88) Xi'an,Shaanxi, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party

Bai Jinian(Chinese:Bạch kỷ niên;February 19, 1926 – January 15, 2015) was a Chinese politician. He was best known as the first provincial party chief in China elected by an internal democratic process, when he becameCommunist Party SecretaryofShaanxiin 1984. Considered an associate ofHu Yaobang,Bai fell out of favour in 1987 and was removed from his position.

Early life

Bai was born inSuide County,ShaanxiProvince on February 19, 1926, the second son of schoolteacher and small businessman Bai Xingping (Bạch tinh bình). In 1939, during theSecond Sino-Japanese War,he joined Communist fighters inYan'an,beginning his career as a revolutionary. He taught elementary school in rural Shaanxi and worked as a secretary to local party leaders. He joined theChinese Communist Partyin April 1942.

Early People's Republic and Cultural Revolution

After the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Bai began a career as a functionary in theCommunist Youth League of China(CYL), working under the provincial CYL leader at the time,Hu Yaobang.Thereafter he led rural work in a provincial commission, and was also named deputy party chief ofHanzhongprefecture.

During theCultural Revolution,Bai was purged for his association with Hu Yaobang and was also labelled an associate of purged party veteransPeng DehuaiandXi Zhongxun.Bai was placed in solitary confinement, and spent time working as a janitor. He also developedcolon cancer.He resumed normal work in 1972, continuing to lead work in rural affairs.

Reform era

After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Bai visited the United States in the summer of 1978, as a member of the Chinese delegation. In February 1979, Bai was named vice-governor of Shaanxi, then in 1983, a member of theprovincial Party Standing Committee.

In August 1984, the Communist Party leadership conducted an unprecedented experiment in Shaanxi as part of wider economic and political reforms taking place around the country. An expanded session of the provincial party committee was held, during which more than 300 people, mainly officials at the county level or above, were allowed to elect the party chief of Shaanxi by secret ballot. Bai emerged the winner out of a total of 13 candidates, becoming the first provincial party chief to be elected through this experimental democratic process.As a result, he was featured in aPeople's Dailystory on November 18, 1984, as part of the party's "bold experimentation with cadre reforms", and also received coverage in international media.In September 1985, he became a member of the12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.The democratic experiment was short-lived, however. As Bai's patron Hu Yaobang was forced to resign in January 1987, Bai became collateral damage, and was himself forced out of office in September.The party never gave any justification for Bai's ousting. During his three-year tenure in Shaanxi, he was mostly known for spearheading Hu's economic reform activities.

From 1988 to 1998, Bai served as a member of the Standing Committee of the 7th and 8thChinese People's Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC). He retired in March 1998.

Bai died on January 15, 2015, inXi'an,at the age of 88.