Zeng Xisheng

Zeng Xisheng (Chinese: 曾希聖) (October 11, 1904 – July 15, 1968) was a Chinese politician. He was born in Xingning, Hunan Province (now Zixing, Hunan Province). He was the first Communist Party of China Committee Secretary of Anhui Province and also its 1st governor after the founding of the People's Republic of China. He was the 5th Communist Party Secretary of Shandong Province.

Initially Zeng fervently supported the policies of the Great Leap Forward, but his stance began to shift as Anhui became one of the first provinces to sink into famine. To combat this, in 1961, Zeng allowed for farmers to rent communal land to grow crops. The following year he was transferred out of Anhui to take on the office of Second Secretary of the Southeast Bureau, in reality a powerless post, having been denounced as a "capitalist roader". [1] He died in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution.

References

1. Dikötter, Frank. The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962-1976. p. 52.