Chen Jinhua

Chen Jinhua
Chen Jinhua
Traditional Chinese	陳錦華
Simplified Chinese	陈锦华
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Chén Jǐnhuá

Chen Jinhua
Chen Jinhua
陈锦华
Chairman of the State Planning Commission of China
	In office; 1993–1998
Premier	Li Peng
Member of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
	In office; 1992–1997
General Secretary	Jiang Zemin
Personal details
Born	July 1929; Qingyang County, Anhui, Republic of China
Died	2 July 2016 (aged 87); Beijing
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Alma mater	Renmin University of China

Chen Jinhua (July 1929 – 2 July 2016) was a Chinese politician. Chen joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in February 1949 and studied at Renmin University of China from 1953 to 1955 and from 1960 to 1962. From the 1950s through the 1970s, he served in positions of increasing responsibility in China's former Ministry of Textile Industry and Ministry of Light Industry. From 1977 to 1983, Chen served on the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, as well as deputy secretary of the Shanghai CCP Committee. From 1983 to 1990, he served as the general manager and CCP committee secretary of state-owned oil company Sinopec.^[1]

In 1990, Chen was named the chairman of the State Commission on Economic Structure Reform, a role in which he served until 1993.^[2]^: 39 At the time, this was the most important administrative body dealing with economic reform policy.^[2]^: 39 From 1993 to 1998 he served as the chairman of the State Planning Commission of China, the precursor to the current National Development and Reform Commission. From 1998 to 2003, he served as a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.^[1]^[3]

In Chen's view, combining the "visible" hand of state planning with the "invisible" hand of market mechanisms was the best way to manage the economy.^[2]^: 39 According to Chen, since capitalist economies could use planning mechanisms to address shortcomings in the market, it stood to reason that socialist economies could use market mechanisms to overcome the limits of planned economics.^[2]^: 39