Early experience
Zhang Erjiang is the son of cadres who went south. When he was young, his father was hit and died during the "Cultural Revolution". Before going to college, Zhang Erjiang served as a soldier for six years and also worked as a postman. Zhang Erjiang is a grade 7 or 8 student in the History Department of Wuhan University. Even among the "new grade 3" students with rich experience, he stands out. His classmates recalled: "Zhang likes to be an official, loves to talk eloquently, and is enthusiastic about socializing. He is recognized as talented." Zhang Erjiang expressed his strong desire to enter politics while he was in school, and made great achievements in the simulated political exercises of student cadres, serving as He became the chairman of the Wuhan University Student Union and was elected as a member of the National Federation of Students, which basically reached the limit of what a student cadre can do. Interestingly, Zhang Erjiang, who lived a corrupt life after becoming a high-ranking official, did not even have a girlfriend during college. His biggest hobby was practicing calligraphy.
As for Zhang Erjiang’s calligraphy, calligraphy experts believe that he has “worked hard”. During his tenure in Tianmen, Danjiangkou and other places, Zhang Erjiang was very busy: in addition to "boasting prostitution, gambling, corruption," he also vigorously and resolutely created many prominent "image projects." At the same time, Zhang Erjiang's pen is not idle either. His calligraphy can be seen everywhere from government agencies to busy shops in downtown. Some low-level officials even received a letter from the municipal Party committee secretary as a sign of promotion. The owner of a framing shop next to Tianmen Middle School said that many people used to frame Zhang Erjiang's characters, mostly signboard names. After seeing the signboard Zhang Erjiang wrote for a hotel, he found that it really looked elegant and noble. People nearby said that the famous signs were removed after Zhang Erjiang's collapse. Because a new inscription had not been found, there was no time to replace all the signs. After graduation, he was assigned to the Hubei Provincial Metallurgical Bureau as secretary of the Youth League Committee. Two years later, in 1984, he was transferred to the Economic Work Department of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, a newly established department-level unit. In the Ministry of Economic Work, Zhang, who was in his early 30s, was promoted from the section level to the deputy director level, but he had no actual position and served as a deputy director level researcher. In 1986, he was sent to Jiayu County as deputy secretary of the county party committee. Delegation and temporary training are considered to be the prelude and necessary procedures for promoting cadres. But this time the demotion did not bring any substantial promotion to Zhang Erjiang. In 1987, Zhang returned to the Ministry of Economic Work from Jiayu County and served as deputy director of the Research Office.
Work transfer
In 1987, the Economic Work Department of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee was abolished. At the same time, the Hubei Provincial Supervision Department was established. According to reports, 80% of the cadres in the Economic Work Department at that time were He was transferred to the Supervision Office, and Zhang Erjiang was also transferred to a certain place in the Supervision Office as deputy director. But just three months later, Zhang was transferred to the Provincial Government Research Office as deputy director. According to insiders, Zhang believed that it was difficult for the Supervision Office to develop, so he sought transfer through various connections. Zhang once said to an acquaintance, "I can't do specific things, but I can do macro aspects." Zhang has always believed that he is not an idle person and likes to be independent in doing things. Judging from his two active transfers, both were from a single functional department to a macro-comprehensive department.
From the president of the student union to the young deputy director of a provincial government agency, it is unknown whether Zhang Erjiang has a special background, but insiders believe that this should come naturally to Zhang. Zhang is "smart and capable in his work." "He graduated from a prestigious university and served as the president of the student union and a member of the National Federation of Students. At the time, he was considered an outstanding talent and might be trained as a reserve cadre by the province.
Digital performance
The work of provincial agencies is far from enough for a person with political ambitions. Zhang Erjiang knows this very well, and his way out is still "below": to take on actual duties at the grassroots level, take charge of the government, and then seek higher-level development after proving his ability. In 1988, Zhang's opportunity finally came. Hubei Province decided to send a group of cadres from provincial-level agencies to serve as party and government leaders at the grassroots level. This dispatch was different from the ordinary short-term temporary post training, but to take root at the grassroots level and even have household registration. All must be moved there.
Zhang Erjiang signed up and was approved by the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee to serve as the acting mayor of Danjiangkou, a remote county-level city in northwest Hubei. Soon after, he was naturally elected as the mayor at the Municipal People's Congress.
Danjiangkou City is famous for its famous Taoist mountain Wudang Mountain and Danjiangkou Reservoir, but it is also famous for its poverty. But for Zhang Erjiang, this may be an opportunity. Later facts proved that he made good use of this opportunity. If a poor county can be lifted out of poverty, this will be the single greatest political achievement, enough to lay a solid foundation for an official's promotion.
In 1997, a well-known magazine in Beijing published a reportage titled "Zhang Erjiang: Ten Years of Fierce Battle at Danjiangkou". At the beginning of this long article of more than 10,000 words, he quoted a poem. A "ballad" of unknown origin: "Zhang Erjiang has come to Danjiangkou, and every household is full of granaries. Even in the Year of the Rooster and Monkey, you can still have a full belly." The author obviously wants to portray Zhang Erjiang as the food and clothing parent of the Danjiangkou people.
Zhang Erjiang came to Danjiangkou as mayor in early 1988. According to the "Shiyan Statistical Yearbook", Danjiangkou's gross domestic product (GDP) in 1988 was 503.38 million yuan, which was only an increase of more than 70 million yuan from the 426.66 million yuan in 1987 before he took office. This relatively stable number has continued By 1992, it was 822.84 million yuan.
In 1993, the city's GDP suddenly jumped to 1.61161 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 800 million yuan over the previous year! Since then, it has been going through somersaults year after year. In 1995, the GDP reached 3.85502 billion yuan, and the fiscal revenue was 175 million yuan, an increase of 35.2% and 70.4% respectively over the previous year. Danjiangkou announced "comprehensive poverty alleviation". In 1996, Zhang Erjiang was promoted to member of the Standing Committee of the Shiyan Municipal Party Committee and secretary of the Danjiangkou Municipal Party Committee. Since then, Danjiangkou's statistics have continued to rise year by year. In 1998, Danjiangkou City reported an annual GDP of 8.26 billion yuan, fiscal revenue of 285 million yuan, and an annual per capita income of farmers of 2,545 yuan. It was awarded the title of "Top Ten" counties and cities in Hubei Province.
The shady story of fraud
At the end of 1999, several media focused on Danjiangkou and exposed the shocking shady story of local statistical fraud. Hubei Province conducted a statistical "water squeeze" campaign to this end. Danjiangkou accounted for 5% of the province's total "water squeeze" during this campaign. In 2001, relevant parties made authoritative statistics. Danjiangkou City's GDP and fiscal revenue in 2000 shrank by nearly 50% and 40% respectively compared with 1998, which was only equivalent to the 1995 level. Two years after Danjiangkou was awarded the title of "Top Ten Counties and Cities", it applied to be re-listed as a key county and city for national poverty alleviation and development.
At this time, Zhang Erjiang, who has benefited the most from "digital achievements", has been transferred to Tianmen City, a city directly under the provincial administration, as the municipal Party committee secretary.