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Wang Zhengwei
王正伟
Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
In office 13 March 2013 – 10 March 2023
Chairman	Yu Zhengsheng Wang Yang
Head of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission
In office 13 April 2013 – 28 April 2016
Premier	Li Keqiang
Preceded by	Yang Jing
Succeeded by	Bagatur
Chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
In office 12 May 2007 – 23 April 2013
Party Secretary	Chen Jianguo Zhang Yi
Preceded by	Ma Qizhi
Succeeded by	Liu Hui
Personal details
Born	June 1957 (age 67)
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Alma mater	Ningxia University

Wang Zhengwei (Chinese: 王正伟, Xiao'erjing: وْا ﺟْﻊ وِ; born June 1957) is a retired Chinese politician, economist, and expert on Islamic affairs. Of Hui ethnic heritage, Wang served as the Chairman of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission between 2013 and 2016, and Chairman (Governor) of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region between 2007 and 2013. He also served as a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference between 2013 and 2023.

Biography

Wang was born in Tongxin County, Ningxia, to a Hui Chinese family. After graduating from university, he went back to his hometown to work as an accountant and as a local Communist Youth League organizer. After the Cultural Revolution, he worked on hydraulics projects for a year. He entered Ningxia University in 1977 and majored in Chinese. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1981.

After graduating, he became a propaganda official, serving in his home county. In January 1984 he was sent to work for the autonomous region's party organization in Yinchuan, where he climbed through the ranks with a series of administrative and research positions. He eventually was promoted the head the regional propaganda department and entered the regional party standing committee as a result. He also served as party chief of Yinchuan.

Wang was long involved in Hui ethnic affairs, and has written many papers on the economy and culture of the Hui people. In 1988 he was sent as part of a delegation to Turkey to participate in an international Islamic culture conference. Wang made a name for himself as a resident expert in the economy of predominantly Islamic states, conducting extensive research on middle eastern countries.

In September 2000, Wang was admitted into the Ethnic Affairs Institute of the Minzu University of China where he earned a doctorate studying the economic structure of Muslim countries. The Financial Times reported, in February 2019, that Wang had plagiarised 17 paragraphs from a prior academic work in his doctoral thesis presented in 2003 to the university.

In 2004, Wang became Executive Vice Chairman of the Ningxia regional government, and on May 12, 2007 was named acting chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, confirmed in January 2008.

After the 12th National People's Congress in 2013, Wang was appointed to head the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. During this time he had been pushing for legislation concerning halal certification. He was also named a Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, ascending to sub-national ranks. On April 2, 2015, Wang was named deputy head of the United Front Work Department, creating an unprecedented situation where two leaders of the department (alongside Sun Chunlan) were of sub-national rank.

Wang is an alternate member of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (elevated to full membership during the 4th conference of the committee), and a full member of the 17th and 18th Central Committees. He is also the chairman of Ningxia Social Science Association, a member of the Chinese Ethnic Writers Association and a member of the Ningxia Writers Association.

In 2022, as part of Xi Jinping’s ethnic assimilation policy, the Chinese Communist Party authorized a corruption inquiry into Wang Zhengwei. The investigation was initiated because party officials felt that Wang had promoted “unrestrained Muslim culture” while in office. This included "promoting certification of halal foods" and encouraging "the building of mosques on a relatively grand scale". Wang Zhengwei has also been criticized by some Han nationalists due to these approaches.

References

1. "崔波同志接替王正伟同志担任银川市委书记". 新浪网. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
2. "王正伟代理宁夏回族自治区主席郝林海任副主席 -". 中国网. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
3. "Top Chinese officials plagiarised doctoral dissertations". Financial Times. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
4. "宁夏回族自治区政府主席王正伟". 大公网. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
5. "Regulating halal food is creating headaches for the government". The Economist. 8 October 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
6. Chan, Minnie (2013-03-20). "Ethnic Affairs Boss Faces Brick Wall". South China Morning Post. Beijing. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
7. "China Launches Investigation Into Official Who Promoted Respect for Islam". Wall Street Journal. March 17, 2022.
8. "全国政协副主席王正伟被查 疑因抵触民族同化政策". RFA Chinese. March 18, 2022.

External links

• (in Chinese) Wang Zhengwei's profile at people.com.cn

v t e 12th State Council of China
Li Keqiang Cabinet I (2013–2018)
Premier	Li Keqiang (Party branch secretary)	Premier Li Keqiang 1st Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli
Vice Premiers	Zhang Gaoli Liu Yandong♀ Wang Yang Ma Kai
State Councilors	Yang Jing (dismissed Feb 2018) Chang Wanquan Yang Jiechi Guo Shengkun Wang Yong
Secretary-General	Yang Jing (dismissed Feb 2018)
Ministers	01 Foreign Affairs Wang Yi 02 National Defense Chang Wanquan 03 Development & Reform Commission Xu Shaoshi → He Lifeng 04 Education Yuan Guiren → Chen Baosheng 05 Science & Technology Wan Gang (Zhi Gong Party Chairman; CPPCC Vice-Chairman) 06 Industry & Information Technology Miao Wei 07 Ethnic Affairs Commission Wang Zhengwei (CPPCC Vice-Chairman) → Bagatur 08 Public Security Guo Shengkun → Zhao Kezhi 09 State Security Geng Huichang → Chen Wenqing 10 Supervision Huang Shuxian → Yang Xiaodu 11 Civil Affairs Li Liguo → Huang Shuxian 12 Justice Wu Aiying♀ → Zhang Jun 13 Finance Lou Jiwei → Xiao Jie 14 Human Resources & Social Security Yin Weimin 15 Land & Resources Jiang Daming 16 Environment Protection Zhou Shengxian → Chen Jining → Li Ganjie 17 Housing & Urban-Rural Development Jiang Weixin → Chen Zhenggao → Wang Menghui 18 Transport Yang Chuantang → Li Xiaopeng 19 Water Resources Chen Lei 20 Agriculture Han Changfu 21 Commerce Gao Hucheng → Zhong Shan 22 Culture Cai Wu → Luo Shugang 23 Health & Family Planning Commission Li Bin♀
Central Bank Governor	Zhou Xiaochuan (CPPCC Vice-Chairman)
Auditor-General	Liu Jiayi → Hu Zejun♀
: Member of the Politburo; : Member of the Politburo Standing Committee; ♀: female

• 1957 births
• Living people
• Hui people
• People from Wuzhong
• Ningxia University alumni
• People's Republic of China politicians from Ningxia
• Political office-holders in Ningxia
• Chinese Communist Party politicians from Ningxia
• Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
• Alternate members of the 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
• Members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
• Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
• Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
• Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress