Liu Yunshan
Liu Yunshan (; ; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the top decision-making body of the CCP, between 2012 and 2017; he was broadly tasked with the work of the party's secretariat, overseeing propaganda and ideological indoctrination, as well as party organization, in addition to serving as President of the Central Party School. Liu built his career in Inner Mongolia, working initially as a teacher, then a Xinhua reporter, before entering the Communist Youth League and the Inner Mongolia party propaganda department. He had a short stint working as the Party Secretary of the city of Chifeng, in Inner Mongolia. Between 2002 and 2012, Liu served as the head of the Central Propaganda Department. Liu, generally perceived by observers to be a conservative and orthodox Communist, oversaw the gradual tightening of internet controls in China during his tenure, as well as an overall reduction in free discourse and civil society. He retired in 2017. Early life Liu was born to an ordinary family of farmers in Tumed Qi in Inner Mongolia; he traces his ancestry to Xinzhou, Shanxi province. He spent over twenty years of his career in Inner Mongolia. He joined the Communist Party in 1971. He initially worked as a teacher, then was "sent down" to do manual labour in the countryside as part of the Cultural Revolution. He attended college part-time at the Teachers College in Jining District, Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia. He then worked in the local government's public relation department of Tumed Qi. He started working as a reporter for Xinhua News Agency in 1975, writing stories about farmers' nomadic lifestyle in Inner Mongolia and occasionally sleeping in yurts to get close to the people that were part of his story. He was eventually promoted to a supervisory role. He then worked for the provincial Communist Youth League organization. In 1985, the 38-year old Liu earned an alternate seat on the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1986, Liu became the Inner Mongolia State Government's director of public relation in 1986, and by 1987, the Secretary-General of the Inner Mongolia Party committee, a position in charge of coordination the execution of political policies. Between 1989 and 1992, Liu attended the Central Party School to take courses in public administration. In 1991, he became Party Secretary of the eastern Inner Mongolian city of Chifeng while also holding a seat on the Autonomous Region's Party Standing Committee, making him one of the most powerful officials in Inner Mongolia at the time. Between 1993 and 2002, he worked in Beijing as the deputy head of the Central Public Relation Department as a deputy to Ding Guangen. Politburo career In 2002, at the 16th Party Congress, Liu became the head of the Central Propaganda Department. Although he also gained a seat on the Politburo at the same time, the overall direction of ideology and propaganda work was 'supervised' by Standing Committee