Pre-1953 Training During Wartime and Establishing Credentials in Guangdong: Land Reform and Personnel and Information Management

Zhao Ziyang was born in 1919 in Hua xian (county), Henan province. His father was a landlord who also owned grain storage facilities. ¹ Between 1928 and 1937 Zhao successively attended Hua County Number One General Primary School, Kaifeng Number One Junior Middle School, and Wuhan Senior Middle School. In March 1932 Zhao joined the Communist Youth League (CYL), becoming a full member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in February 1938. He joined the CCP in his native Hua county but it is not known who recruited him. He may have subsequently attended a Party school, but he had no form of higher education nor did he travel abroad.