Liu Shaoqi's Son Liu Yuan

More (propagandistic?) stuff that I have unearthed while researching into Liu Shaoqi (刘少奇).

Liu died in 1969 in Kaifeng (开封) in Henan (河南) province, in a less than dignified way. But this posting is not about how he died. Rather it is about his youngest son Liu Yuan (刘源), who was appointed vice-governor of Henan, 23 years after his father died in the same province.

Billed then as the youngest vice-governor in history, Liu Yuan graduated in 1992 from the Beijing Teachers' Training College (北京师范学院). Upon graduation, he requested to work in a village in Henan, in order to "better remember and draw strength" from his father.

During the 10 years he was vice-mayor, Liu was said to have accomplished two major tasks.
1. Increased the urban living space for residents in Zhengzhou (郑州).
2. Introduced the use of natural gas eight years ahead of schedule for over 40,000 residents.

On accusation that he had become vice-governor because of his father and that he had made use of his parentage to get things done, Liu argued that even though he opposed special privileges, there was nothing wrong in making use of one's "connections" to accomplish "something good for the people."

In Liu's words: "When I decided on the natural gas project as one of my key priorities, I had little difficulties in getting the assistance of related departments. Being my father's son has been helpful and had played a lubricating role. If people say that what I had done is resorting to special privileges, then let me assure everyone that I will only make use of special privileges to achieve the common good, and not for private interests."

Maybe there really might be some good in nepotism?