China Merchants executive who founded the Shekou Industrial Zone, the first experiment in opening
Born in Bao’an County, now part of Shenzhen, he fought the Japanese in the Dongjiang Column from 1939 and, as its liaison chief, passed intelligence on Japanese operations to the US military. After 1949 he was an intelligence officer seconded to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, consul in Jakarta and head of security for the delegation at Bandung. Held in Qincheng prison from 1968, he was rehabilitated in 1975 as deputy director of foreign affairs in the Ministry of Communications. In 1978 he proposed using China Merchants in Hong Kong to open the mainland to the world market, and on 31 January 1979 won approval for the Shekou Industrial Zone, where he experimented with merit pay, housing reform, open bidding and local elections. He coined the slogan “time is money, efficiency is life” and founded China Merchants Bank and Ping An Insurance. He died in 2016.
Also known as: Ouyang Rushan
Activities and affiliations
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1938–2016
Military command
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1949–1968
People’s Republic of China state institutionsIntelligence officer; consul in Jakarta
Security, intelligence and policing -
1979–1992
People’s Republic of China state institutionsHead of the Shekou Industrial Zone (China Merchants)Main
Industry and production
Career Timeline
- 1939Guerrilla war in the Dongjiang Column
- 1945Founded the guerrillas’ liaison office in Hong Kong
- 1950Intelligence officer seconded to Vietnam
- 1952Consul in Jakarta
- 1968Imprisoned in Qincheng
- 1975Deputy director of foreign affairs, Ministry of Communications
- 1979Founded the Shekou Industrial Zone
- 1985Local elections at Shekou