Meng Xuenong

Early Life and Rise in the Beijing Government

Meng Xuenong was born in August 1949 in Penglai, Shandong province. He began work in March 1969 and joined the Chinese Communist Party in July 1972, later earning a master's degree in engineering. Early in his career he served as Communist Youth League secretary at the Beijing No. 2 Automobile Manufacturing Plant, a cadre in the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee's Organization Department, a secretary in the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee's General Office, and deputy secretary and then secretary of the Communist Youth League committee at the Beijing Automobile Industry Corporation. From November 1983 he was Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Communist Youth League Committee; in November 1986 he became Party Secretary and General Manager of the Beijing United Hotels Company; and in February 1987 he was appointed Director of the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce. He was promoted to Vice Mayor of Beijing in February 1993, added the post of Standing Committee member of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee in December 1998, and became Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee in December 2002, spending a full decade in the Beijing municipal government.

Becoming Mayor of Beijing and the SARS Accountability

In January 2003, Meng became Mayor of Beijing, concurrently serving as Executive Chairman and Deputy Party Secretary of the Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Barely three months into his term, a concentrated outbreak of SARS struck Beijing, and the city's epidemic reporting and containment measures drew intense domestic and international criticism. On 20 April 2003, the CCP Central Committee dismissed him alongside Health Minister Zhang Wenkang, holding both responsible for the mishandled early response to the outbreak; Meng subsequently resigned as mayor, becoming one of the most senior local officials held accountable in the SARS crisis.

The Interlude: The South-to-North Water Diversion Office

That September, Meng returned to office as Deputy Director and Deputy Party Secretary of the Office of the State Council's South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Committee, retaining full-ministerial rank; he held the post, largely out of the public eye, until September 2007.

Governor of Shanxi and a Second Resignation

On 30 August 2007, Meng was transferred to Shanxi as a Standing Committee member and Deputy Secretary of the provincial party committee, becoming Vice Governor and Acting Governor that September; on 22 January 2008 he was formally elected Governor at the first session of the 11th Shanxi Provincial People's Congress. Only eight months into his term, on 8 September 2008, a tailings dam operated by the Xintai Mining Company collapsed in Xiangfen county, Shanxi, sending a wave of mud and mining waste through a downstream village and market and killing 277 people, with 4 missing. On 14 September, Meng resigned again, citing leadership responsibility for the disaster. Having resigned from two provincial/ministerial-level posts within five years over major crises, Meng became a widely cited case in debates over China's system of official accountability.

Later Career and Retirement

Meng subsequently moved away from local government, becoming Deputy Secretary of the CCP Central Committee's Central and State Organs Work Committee in January 2010; he was promoted to Executive Deputy Secretary in 2012 while also serving as President of the Central and State Organs Party School. In March 2013 he was elected a Standing Committee member of the 12th CPPCC National Committee and chaired its Committee for Social and Legal Affairs, before retiring in March 2018.