At the end of 1996, Zhu Rongji, then vice premier of the State Council, watched the drama "Shang Martingale" in Beijing, and Zhu Rongji burst into tears while watching "Shang Martingale."
We all know that Shang Martin and Qin Xiaogong set off a trend of reform in the Qin State, destroyed the corrupt rule of the old nobles of the Qin State, and brought hope to the Qin State. After the change, the State of Qin quickly became stronger, and after a few years it swept away the Liuhe, ending the era of feudal strife that had been divided for hundreds of years.
Shang Martin's reform encountered great resistance, but with a passion for blood, he and Qin Xiaogong worked together to implement the change of law, which is very valuable. In the history that followed, countless people wanted to emulate the Shang Martingale Transformation Law and then make the country rich and the people strong, and Zhu Rongji was one of the reformers.
Looking back, Zhu Rongji joined the work in 1951. That year, Zhu Rongji was full of vigor and led The Tsinghua students to the northeast to prepare for the construction of a new China.
His profound knowledge and outstanding work ability enabled Zhu Rongji to quickly stand out and become an outstanding cadre of the party. However, the good times did not last long, and Zhu Ronggen offended the leaders in order to tell the truth, so much so that he suffered, and even sent to the "May Seventh" cadre school to work during the period.
Telling the truth comes at a price, and Zhu Rongji paid a heavy price for this. However, Zhu Rongji also gained results in telling the truth, and he was valued by a number of outstanding party members. Moreover, after the reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping soon noticed Zhu Rongji, who dared to speak the truth.
At that time, the state continued to understand the economy and dared to tell the truth, and at the time of reform and opening up, the state needed to cultivate a group of "reformists." Zhu Rongji's work in Shanghai was an opportunity for Deng Xiaoping to exercise, and the purpose of which was to see if Zhu Rongji was suitable for entrusting him with a heavy responsibility.
In 1990, when Deng Xiaoping inspected Shanghai, zhu Rongji, who accompanied him, said: "The development of Pudong in Shanghai is not a matter for Shanghai alone. The development of Pudong can drive the development of the Yangtze River Delta and the Yangtze River Basin, so it is a national affair. ”
This is a great expectation for Zhu Rongji. After returning to Beijing, Deng Xiaoping even said to the comrades of the Politburo of the Central Committee: "I have retired, but there is still one thing I still want to say, that is, the Development of Pudong in Shanghai, you should pay more attention to it." ”
The burden on Zhu Rongji's body is very heavy, and he shoulders not only the expectations of the citizens of Shanghai Municipality, but also the expectations of Deng Xiaoping and even the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee.
With deng xiaoping's support, Zhu Rongji carried out drastic reforms in Shanghai. However, the difficulties in the reform also made Zhu Rongji very nervous, and he even made a big fuss many times to criticize the cadres of the Shanghai Municipal Government.
At that time, Shanghai was facing many problems, and these problems came down to the municipal government. For example, the masses of the people reported problems to the municipal government, and as a result, the Shanghai Municipal Government did not hear back for several months, and Zhu Rongji's instructions were "shocking."
For example, the Municipal Sanitation Bureau cannot do a good job, the Traffic Bureau cannot solve the problem of congestion, the Housing Management Bureau cannot solve the housing problem, and the Municipal Finance and Trade Office cannot solve the problem of "vegetable basket". These problems were finally solved by feedback to Shanghai Mayor Zhu Rongji, so that Zhu Rongji lamented the difficulties of a person: Relying on one person, no matter how capable I am, I can't do it well, I read hundreds of documents a day at most, approved 92 pieces, and managed them very specifically. But you solved 92 pieces, and Shanghai has 920,000 pieces.
Judging from Zhu Rongji's feelings, we can all know how difficult Zhu Rongji's work was at that time, but what he did not expect was that the difficulties of Shanghai Were the tip of the iceberg, and when he became premier of the State Council in the future, there would be even more difficulties.
In 1991, Zhu Rongji was promoted to vice premier of the State Council, and the following year he was elected a member of the Politburo and a member of the Standing Committee. After becoming prime minister, the work is even more difficult. When he inspected the enterprises in Jilin Province, the situation of the "triangle debt" was so shocking that he exclaimed: The "triangle debt" was cleared before and after the debt was repaid, and the more it owed, the more it owed, which seriously hindered the development of production and structural adjustment. Some "hard" measures must be taken to clean up the "triangular debt".
The most important thing is that when Zhu Rongji was premier, he really experienced how angry the vested interests were. He once gave an example in public:
For example, a taxi driver in Beijing pays 150 yuan a day to the company. In this way, the company can collect the money to buy the car in two or three years, but the driver will continue to pay. The taxi company always apportioned them, telling them to install this and that, and the things sold to him were extremely expensive. Moreover, all this money given to the taxi company is only a 'white strip', which means that the taxi company does not pay taxes at all. To put it mildly, the taxi company's gang is simply a 'head', the kind of person who wore sunglasses and fragrant cloud yarn before the liberation of Shanghai. Tax evasion, tax evasion, how much money is in it! Transcript of Zhu Rongji's Speech (Volume III)
In recent years, the news of taxi accidents is not uncommon. For example, because sharing bicycles provides convenience to the people, but loses the interests of taxi drivers, taxi drivers destroy shared bicycles.
This is typical of the anger of vested interests, whose interests are damaged, and a synergy is formed that forces outsiders to give up.
Of course, I'm just giving an example, there were no bike-sharing at the time. At that time, Zhu Rongji criticized taxi companies, which monopolized the local taxi business and then pumped oil and water from drivers. Every time there is a reform, the taxi company will do the whole thing and force it to abandon the reform. He can criticize the taxi company as a "head", which shows how excessive the taxi company can be at that time.
In 1996, Zhu Rongji, who was vice premier of the State Council, burst into tears while watching the drama "Shang Martingale." Of course, he could appreciate what kind of situation Shang Martin was facing and how difficult it was to reform.
Yeah, it's hard. What to do? Does the people leave it alone? Zhu Rongji's answer was no, he was not intimidated by the difficulties, but instead had a high morale and commented on "Shang Martingale": Watching this drama, his ambition and pride were born!
In 1998, after Zhu Rongji became premier of the State Council, he firmly reformed, and at a Chinese and foreign press conference, he firmly said: "Whether there is a minefield or an abyss ahead, I will forge ahead, have no hesitation, bow down to exhaustion, and die after myself." ”
At that time, Zhu Rongji's reforms involved many aspects, such as financial sector reform, housing reform, fiscal and taxation reform, and so on, but the most important ones were institutional reform and state-owned enterprise reform. These two areas were once regarded as minefields, after all, any reform will touch the interests of vested interests, and the resistance and difficulties encountered will be great.
Let's talk about the former first, at that time the institutions were bloated, and Zhu Rongji wanted to abolish departments and streamline officials. But this raises the question, layoffs and layoffs? Therefore, the ministers of the State Council have painstakingly advised Zhu Rongji to vigorously explain the difficulties and importance of their departments and not to abolish them.
They don't want to be laid off, so what to do? Don't cut anymore? It is impossible, the problem of bloated institutions must be solved, and Zhu Rongji did not want to continue dragging on. With zhu Rongji's vigorous promotion, the Ninth National People's Congress finally adopted the "Decision on the Institutional Reform of the State Council."
This reform is very large, and the State Council can basically be said to have reduced its staff by half. Originally, there were six vice premiers of the State Council, but two were directly dismissed and four were retained. The number of members of the State Council was reduced from eight to five, the number of constituent departments of the State Council was reduced from 40 to 29, and 11 departments were abolished. Moreover, with the advancement of institutional reform nationwide, a total of 1.15 million people have been cut by organs at all levels across the country, which shows the intensity of reform.
The second is the reform of state-owned enterprises. At that time, the bloated state-owned enterprises were also a big problem, and the most serious problem was the problem of duplication of construction. For example, there was originally a garment factory, and as a result, everyone saw that his efficiency was good and they all went to the garment factory, so this became a problem. All garment factories are difficult because the goods they produce cannot be sold, and because of the competition that leads to weak profits, good companies will eventually turn profits into losses.
What could have been a problem that could have been solved by one or two garment factories, now that a whole bunch of them have been made, what to do? This kind of duplication of construction is not good for the economy, it will only make it more and more difficult for everyone, and it is a serious waste of resources. In order to prevent this problem from continuing to spread, Zhu Rongji began to stop duplication of construction and strengthen competition among state-owned enterprises, demanding that the effect of reducing personnel and increasing efficiency be achieved.
During Zhu Rongji's period, the number of state-owned enterprises and state-controlled enterprises was directly reduced from 238,000 to 150,000, and nearly half of the enterprises were abolished. Moreover, Zhu Rongji also demanded that enterprises correctly establish a modern enterprise system with "clear property rights, clear rights and responsibilities, separation of government administration and enterprises, and scientific management" and deepen the reform of state-owned enterprises.
Resources:
Zhu Rongji's Writings: Transcripts of Zhu Rongji's Speeches (Volume III)
Ling Zhijun: Ups and Downs: A Memorandum on China's Economic Reform
Shandong Business Daily: Comment: There is a kind of "public anger" called the anger of vested interests
People's Daily: Transcript of Zhu Rongji's Speech records the course of reform