Eighteen CCP Officials Die Within Two Weeks

Mourners wait to enter a memorial hall at Longhua funeral home in Shanghai, China, on Dec. 28, 2022. Allen Wan/Bloomberg

In the two-week period between Feb. 13 to Feb. 27, at least 18 well-known Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials died of illness, including two middle-aged people under 60.

Two Officials at Vice-Ministerial Level

Dorje jam dpal blo bzang the former Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a political advisory body to the Chinese Communist regime, passed away due to illness on the evening of Feb. 26, in Lhasa, Tibet.

Born in 1937, Dorje jam dpal blo bzang held various positions after 1956, including Vice President of a branch of the Tibet Buddhist Association, Standing Director of the Buddhist Association of China, Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China, Deputy Director of the Autonomous Region’s Religious Affairs Bureau, and Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region CPPCC.

Zhu Ze, former president and Party chief of the Jiangsu High Court, died on Feb. 13 in Nanjing due to illness.

Born in May 1924, Mr. Zhu was a veteran of the CCP’s New Fourth Army and a painter. He was admitted to the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 17 and joined the New Four Army the following year. As a painter, he has created many red communist works, some of which are kept in museums that showcase the CCP’s history in China.

Two University Officials Under 60

Wu Jialian, Party chief of Guangdong Vocational College of Literature and Arts, passed away on Feb. 27 in Guangzhou at the age of 58 due to illness. Ms. Wu was a division head at the Propaganda Department of Guangdong. For many years, she was engaged in the work of publishing, editing and propaganda in the area literature and art. As the vocational college’s Party chief, she was in charge of the so-called “maintaining political security and ideological security” and collaborating with the School of Marxism in other universities.

She has been honored with the China News Award, the Sichuan News Award, the Guangdong News Award, and the Advanced Individual in “Fighting SARS” Propaganda Work in Guangdong Province.

Tao Gertu, director and deputy party chief of the School of Journalism and Communication at Inner Mongolia Normal University, died on Feb. 21 at the age of 54.

Mr. Tao, a Mongolian with a Ph.D. in literature, specialized in intercultural communication, international communication, film and television anthropology, and public opinion research. He was the head of a team of experts designated to receive major government support in the field of propaganda, ideology, and culture in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The other ten officials on the deceased list include Huang Shikang, the CCP’s former ambassador to Chile, Mexico, and Colombia; Shen Gongling, a former official in charge of the CCP’s Young Pioneer organization at the national level; Dong Shouyuan, former deputy head of the Discipline Inspection Group and director of the Supervision Office of the Nantong Municipal Procuratorate in Jiangsu Province; Wang Guocheng, former Party chief and procurator of the Yichun Municipal Procuratorate in Heilongjiang Province; Wang Wensheng, former vice-president of the Hefei University of Technology and Party chief of the Institute of Microcomputer Science and Technology at the university; Hu Laichun, former vice-mayor of Huangshan City in Anhui Province; Dai Xiahui, retired high-level cadre of the Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Construction; Zhen Weimin, a veteran of the New Fourth Army, former editorial board member of Xinhua Daily and former director of the Institute of Journalism; Hao Yongcheng, former director of the Radio Electronics Department of Peking University; Liu Li, deputy Party chief of Peking Medical College’s admin division; Wang Yue, former governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhejiang Branch; Song Li, former director of the Jilin Provincial Committee of Science and Technology; Cui Guitian, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Socialism at Shandong University; and Gong Zhenbang, former Vice President of Shanghai University and robotics expert.

Of the 18 deaths, all but one are members of the CCP.