Cheng Zihua

Cheng Zihua (; June 20, 1905 – March 30, 1991) was a People's Republic of China politician and military general. He was born in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. He was the 1st Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary and governor of his home province. He was a delegate to the 3rd (1964-1975), 4th (1975-1978) and 5th (1978-1983) National People's Congress. Cheng was an important part of the Third Front campaign to develop basic and national defense industry in China's interior.

Career

Early career At 21 years old in 1927, Cheng joined the Communist Party. Cheng first visited Panzhihua in mid-1964 when only eight households lived there. In his memoirs, Cheng highlights Panzhihua's suitability for a strategic industrial rear because its "lofty mountains and steep hills" would make it difficult for enemy infantry to access or for enemy airplanes to bomb.

Before beginning to conduct the surveys, Cheng led the team to study Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai's comments on the Third Front in order to emphasize the importance of the Third Front campaign; Cheng also led the team in discussion sessions focused on Mao's texts On Practice, On Contradiction, and Oppose Book Worship in a further effort to build ideological cohesion among the team.