Sheng Guangzu

Sheng Guangzu
盛光祖
Minister of Railways of the People's Republic of China
In office 25 February 2011 – 16 March 2013
Premier	Wen Jiabao
Preceded by	Liu Zhijun
Succeeded by	post abolished
Personal details
Born	Nanjing, Jiangsu

Sheng Guangzu (Chinese: 盛光祖; pinyin: Shèng Guāngzǔ; born 1949) is the last Chinese Minister of Railways before the position was abolished in March 2013. He was formerly the head of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China. He initially held several lower positions in the Ministry of Railways, and moved up the ranks starting in 2000.^[1] Sheng was also a member of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Born in April 1949 in Nanjing, he is a member of the China's majority Han ethnic group and holds a bachelor's degree.^[1]

While deputy governor of the Ministry of China Railway Communication, he supported the creation of China Netcom to compete with China Telecom.^[2] He became a board member of China Netcom and the Ministry of Railways was given a quarter interest in the company.^[2]

Sheng replaced his predecessor Liu Zhijun who was dismissed for corruption.^[3][4] During his tenure, the Wenzhou train collision occurred on July 23, 2011, killing 40, and injuring 192 (12 severely).^[5]

References

1. "Leadership Resume". General Administration of Customs. 2008-04-01. Archived from the original on 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
2. Sheff, David. "Betting on Bandwidth". WIRED. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
3. Wong, Edward (12 February 2011). "China’s Railway Minister Loses Post in Corruption Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
4. Sui-Lee Wee; Huang Yan; Miral Fahmy (25 February 2011). "China railways minister dismissed -Xinhua". The Los Angeles Times. Reuters. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
5. "忆"七二三"动车事故：当时高铁中国梦达顶峰" (in Chinese). NetEase. 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2014-12-30.