Zhang Dejiang

Zhang Dejiang (/dʒɑːŋ dəˈdʒjɑːŋ/; born 4 November 1946) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress between 2013 and 2018. He was also the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party from 2012 to 2017.

Born in Tai'an County, Liaoning, Zhang attended Yanbian University and Kim Il Sung University. Entering politics in 1983, he served as the deputy party secretary of the Yanji from 1983 to 1985 and the deputy party secretary of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture from 1985 to 1986, when he became a vice minister of Civil Affairs. In 1990, he became the Party Secretary of Yanbian. In 1995, he was appointed as the Party Secretary of Jilin, serving there until 1998. In that year, he became the Party Secretary of Zhejiang, where he served until 2002. That year, he was promoted to the CCP Politburo and was appointed as the Party Secretary of Guangdong. During his tenure, the SARS outbreak began in Guangdong.

From 2008 to 2013, he served as vice premier in charge of energy, telecommunications, and transportation under Premier Wen Jiabao, widely known for being Wen's 'troubleshooter' of choice, leading various disaster response task forces, such as during the 2009 Heilongjiang mine explosion and the 2011 Wenzhou train collision. In March 2012, Zhang briefly replaced Bo Xilai as the party secretary of Chongqing, who was removed due to a political scandal. In 2013, he was promoted to become the third-ranking member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee. He also became the deputy head of the National Security Commission and the top official responsible for Hong Kong and Macau affairs. He was appointed as the chairman of the NPCSC in 2013. In 2017, Zhang retired from the Politburo Standing Committee, and was succeeded by Li Zhanshu as NPCSC chair in 2018.