Wen Jiabao

Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the premier of China from 2003 to 2013.

In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy.

Wen attended the Beijing Institute of Geology (now the China University of Geosciences) for undergraduate education with a major in geological surveying and prospecting from 1960 to 1965.

Afterwards, he pursued his graduate studies in geological structure from 1965 to 1968.

Wen joined the Chinese Communist Party when he was a college student in April 1965.

His granduncle worked as a diplomat at FMPRC.

After the completion of his graduate studies, he began his career in the geology bureau of Gansu province.

From 1968 to 1978, he presided over the Geomechanics Survey Team under the Gansu Provincial Geological Bureau and head of its political section.

Wen succeeded in office, rising as chief of the Gansu Provincial Geological Bureau and later as Vice-minister of Geology and Mineral Resources.

Wen was "discovered" by then-CCP general secretary Hu Yaobang, and joined the ranks of the Central Committee and Politburo.

He worked as the director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party between 1986 and 1993, and accompanied Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang as Zhao's personal secretary to Tiananmen Square during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, where Zhao called on protesting students to leave the square and after which Zhao was removed from his position within the Party.

There was some public speculation after 1989 over whether Wen was closer to Hu Yaobang or Zhao Ziyang, but Wen implicitly confirmed that he was a protégé of Hu by the release of his 2010 article, "Recalling Hu Yaobang when I returned to Xingyi".

After Wen was promoted to work in Beijing, he served as Chief of the Party's General Affairs Office, an organ that oversaw day-to-day operations of the party's leaders.

He remained in the post for eight years.

Wen has built a network of patronage during his career.

Throughout this period Wen was said to be a strong administrator and technocrat, having earned a reputation for meticulousness, competence, and a focus on tangible results.

Wen's most significant political recovery occurred after accompanying Zhao on his visit to students demonstrating in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

By the end of the 1990s Wen and Zhang Peili were the main investor and founder of Ping An Insurance, which was established with the help of Hong Kong tycoon Cheng Yu-tung's family through real estate firm New World Development.

In 1998, Wen was promoted to the post of Vice Premier under Premier Zhu Rongji, his mentor, and oversaw the broad portfolios of agriculture and finance.

Wen was dubbed "the people's premier" by both domestic and foreign media.

Instead of concentrating on GDP growth in large cities and rich coastal areas, Wen advocated for advancing policies considered more favorable towards farmers and migrant workers.

Wen's government reduced agricultural taxes and pursued ambitious infrastructure projects.

Outgoing Premier Zhu Rongji showed his esteem for Wen by entrusting him from 1998 with the task of overseeing agricultural, financial and environmental policies in the office of Vice-Premier, considered crucial as China prepared to enter the World Trade Organization.

Wen served as Secretary of the Central Financial Work Commission from 1998 to 2002.

From 2002 to 2012, he held membership in the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the country's de facto top power organ, where he was ranked third out of nine members and after general secretary Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Wen entered the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, China's highest ruling council, in November 2002, ranked third out of nine members (After Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo).

During the transition of authority as Hu Jintao assumed the general secretary and presidency in November 2002 and March 2003 respectively, Wen's nomination as premier was confirmed by the National People's Congress with over 99% of the delegates' vote.

After taking over as Premier, Wen oversaw the continuation of economic reforms and has been involved in shifting national goals from economic growth at all costs to growth which also emphasizes more egalitarian wealth, along with other social goals, such as public health and education.

Wen's broad range of experience and expertise, especially cultivated while presiding over agricultural policies under Zhu Rongji, has been important as the "fourth generation" sought to revitalize the rural economy in regions left out by the past two decades of reform.

In addition, the Chinese government under Wen has begun to focus on the social costs of economic development, which include damage to the environment and to workers' health.

This more comprehensive definition of development was encapsulated into the idea of a xiaokang society.

In November 2003, Wen and his governent introduced the slogan of "Five Comprehensive Coordinations" which outlined the Communist Party's priorities for harmonious and scientific development: mitigating urban-rural imbalances, interregional imbalances, socio-economic imbalances, human-environmental imbalances, and domestic-international imbalances.

Initially regarded as quiet and unassuming, Wen is said to be a good communicator and is known as a "man of the people."

Wen has appeared to make great efforts to reach out to those who seem left out by two decades of stunning economic growth in rural and especially western China.

Unlike Zhao, who was purged from the party days later for "grave insubordination" and lived under house arrest in Beijing until his death in January 2005, Wen survived the political aftermath of the demonstrations.

Wen Jiabao is the only Chief of the Party's General Affairs Office to have served under three General Secretaries: Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, and Jiang Zemin.

Following the global financial crisis of 2008, Wen's government injected four trillion yuan into the economy as part of a stimulus program.

Seen as the leading member of the reform wing of the Communist Party, Wen's family came under scrutiny by investigative journalists for having accumulated a massive fortune during his time in government, casting a cloud over his legacy shortly prior to his retirement.

He left office in 2013 and was succeeded by Li Keqiang.

Born in Beichen district of the City of Tianjin, Wen Jiabao went to the Nankai High School from which the first premier of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai graduated.