Song Ping

For the former Chinese county in modern Vietnam, see Tống Bình.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Song.

Song Ping (Chinese: 宋平; born 24 April 1917)^[1] is a Chinese Communist revolutionary and a retired high-ranking politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Song is considered the only living member of the Second Generation of Chinese Leadership.

Song Ping
宋平
Song Ping in May 1949
Head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party
In office June 1987 – December 1989
General Secretary	Zhao Ziyang Jiang Zemin
Preceded by	Wei Jianxing
Succeeded by	Lu Feng
State Councilor of China
In office June 1983 – April 1988
Premier	Zhao Ziyang
Director of the State Planning Commission
In office June 1983 – June 1987
Premier	Zhao Ziyang
Preceded by	Yao Yilin
Succeeded by	Yao Yilin
Party Secretary of Gansu
In office June 1977 – January 1981
Deputy	Feng Jixin (Governor)
Preceded by	Xian Henghan
Succeeded by	Feng Jixin
Governor of Gansu
In office June 1977 – December 1979
Preceded by	Xian Henghan
Succeeded by	Feng Jixin
Personal details
Born	(1917-04-24) 24 April 1917 (age 108) Ju County, Shandong, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Spouse	Chen Shunyao ​ (died 2019)​
Children	Song Yichang (son) Song Yichun (son)
Chinese name
Chinese	宋平
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sòng Píng Wade–Giles Sung P'ing

Biography

He rose through the ranks of the party to become First Party Secretary of Gansu Province, and later Minister of Organization of CCP. Song was in charge of senior cadres' recommendation, candidacy and promotion.^{[citation needed]}

During his time as Party Chief of Gansu, Song Ping became mentor of two young protégés – Hu Jintao^[2] and Wen Jiabao^{[citation needed]} – who were to become the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the Premier of the Chinese State Council, respectively.^[3]

In 1987, Song left the Planning Commission to replace Wei Jianxing as head of the CCP Central Organization Department.^[4] Song announced a decision by the Chinese Communist Party to expel members of the communist party who were sympathetic to pro-democracy demonstrations in the spring of 1989.^[5] After the Tiananmen Square protests, Song became a member of Politburo Standing Committee with Jiang Zemin and Li Ruihuan.

As a member of more conservative faction within the party, Song stepped down as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee along with another conservative faction member Yao Yilin on 19 October 1992 after 14th Party Congress as a result of Deng Xiaoping's action to put more reformists into PSC.^[6]

Song turned 100 in 24 April 2017.^[7] Considered instrumental in the rise of former CCP general secretary Hu Jintao, he lately attended the 20th Party Congress at age 105,^[8] He did not attend the funeral of Jiang Zemin.