Zhu Houze

Zhu Houze (; January 1931 – 9 May 2010) was a Chinese politician most active in the 1980s, best known for his term as head of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party. As head of the department he presided over a period of liberalism in the Chinese press.

Biography Zhu was born in Zhijin County, Guizhou province. He joined the Communist Party in 1949, the year the People's Republic of China was founded. He attended Guiyang Normal College. In 1964, during the Socialist Education Movement, Zhu was expelled from the Communist Party and sent to perform manual labour.

Zhu was politically rehabilitated in 1978, then became head of the party organization in Guiyang, then promoted to provincial First Secretary of Guizhou. During his tenure in Guizhou he was known for the significant progress the province made in economic development; the annual increase in industrial output increased by 18%. Zhu's achievements were noted by national leaders such as Hu Yaobang. Though disgraced, he was given a position at the State Council Rural Development Centre; during the 13th Party Congress held in 1987, he failed to secure election to the party's Central Committee; that is, he appeared on the candidate list but did not receive enough votes for confirmation. However, in 1988, reformist general secretary Zhao Ziyang named Zhu the first-ranked vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. He retreated from public view thereafter and died on May 9, 2010, in Beijing.