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.

Early career
At 21 years old in 1927, Cheng joined the Communist Party. He participated in Jiangxi Soviet, was part of the Long March, and fought against Japan during the Second-Sino Japanese War and against the Nationalists during the on-going Chinese Civil War.

1949 and after
In 1949, Cheng became the Party Secretary of Shanxi. He later served as Minister of Commerce and Vice Director of the Planning Commission.

Third Front construction
Cheng strongly supported the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's interior. Cheng wrote in his memoirs, "Preparing for war was absolutely necessary" because (1) the United States "had launched a war of aggression against Vietnam at our southern border" and (2) because of increasing Soviet hostility towards China, "the situation at our northern border was very tense.." In Cheng's ultimate evaluation, the Third Front was a major success because it had rectified "the almost total lack of industry in the interior" which had existed before 1949 and persisted into the 1960s.

As part of his work on the Third Front, Cheng led an investigative team that conducted regional surveys to start preparations for the Chengdu-Kunming railroad and industrial complexes near Panzhihua, Liupanshui, and Chongqing. 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.