Gao Di (Chinese:高狄;pinyin:Gāo Dí; November 1927 – 26 October 2019),pen nameWen Di (闻迪), was a Chinese politician and political theorist, best known for his term as the editor-in-chief ofPeople's Daily Press and asChinese Communist Party Committee Secretary ofJilin province.
Gao was born inLinyi,Shandong Province. He graduated during the Republican era at Manchukuo University inChangchun, Jilin. He joined theChinese Communist Party (CCP) following theSecond Sino-Japanese War in April 1946. After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Gao worked in Jilin province. He worked for theJilin City CCP committee, then atSonghuajiang Daily, thenYongji prefecture. He was purged during theCultural Revolution and sent to perform rural labour. In 1972, he returned to work, taking on a leading role in the provincial Office for Rural Affairs and Forestry and various leading posts in Jilin City, eventually being promoted to party chief and mayor of Jilin City. In March 1983, he was admitted to the Jilin provincial party committee; in May 1985 he was named CCP Committee Secretary of Jilin province.[citation needed]
In April 1988 he was transferred to the central party authorities to take on the office of Executive Vice President of the CCPCentral Party School. After the1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the leadership ofPeople's Daily was reshuffled in order to ensure "political loyalty" of the newspaper, with Gao Di taking on the post of head of the newspaper. However, he later fell out of favor due to not having sufficiently supported Deng Xiaoping's southern tour speeches, and was removed as chief officer.[1]
In March 1993, he became a standing committee member of the 8thChinese People's Political Consultative Conference; he retired from front-line politics in 1998.[2]
He was a member of the12th and13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.[3]
Gao died on 26 October 2019 inChangchun, aged 91.[3]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Editor-in-chief of thePeople's Daily Press 1989–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Party Secretary of Jilin 1985–1988 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
