Dai Shunzhi

Dai Shunzhi (; born 1932) is a Chinese engineer and politician who served as Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Mayor of Nanjing. He is also known for his long career in China's petrochemical and industrial management sectors.

Biography

Dai Shunzhi was born in 1932 in Jiangning, Jiangsu Province, China. He received higher education in engineering, studying at the Harbin Institute of Technology beginning in 1950. He later studied Russian language in Beijing and pursued advanced studies in chemical engineering at Ural State Technical University in the Soviet Union, where he was awarded the title of chemical engineer. During his time in the Soviet Union, he also served as chairman of the Chinese students' association in Sverdlovsk.

After returning to China in 1958, Dai began working at the Nanjing Chemical Industrial Corporation, where he held successive positions including technician, workshop director, deputy factory director and chief engineer, production department head, deputy general manager and chief engineer, and eventually general manager. His technical expertise covered fertilizers, inorganic chemicals, coal chemical engineering, and petrochemical systems.

In April 1980, Dai concurrently served as Vice Mayor of Nanjing, marking his transition from industrial management into municipal governance. In September 1983, he was appointed General Manager and Chief Commander of the construction headquarters of the Yangzi Petrochemical Company, one of China's major petrochemical development projects during the early reform period. In January 1988, Dai became Mayor and Party Secretary of Nanjing, one of China's key provincial capitals. During his tenure, he was involved in urban development, industrial restructuring, and infrastructure modernization in the city during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In March 1991, he was appointed Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province. In June 1992, he became Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), reflecting his transition into a consultative and advisory leadership role at the provincial level. Later in 1992, Dai was appointed as China's representative to the Americas for the China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), based in the United States, where he served in international industrial and energy cooperation roles until 1997.