A once notorious figure during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) has attracted media attention again after a firm in which he holds a major stake announced its intention to list on the stock market.

Zhang Tiesheng.[ File photo]

Zhang Tiesheng, 62, is the sixth largest shareholder of Liaoning Province-based Wellhope Agri-Tech Co Ltd. The company uses advanced technology to produce animal feed and is an industry leader in China.

If the firm is allowed to list, it is estimated that the value of Zhang's shares will surpass 300 million yuan (US$47.4 million), according to reports.

But media attention is focusing less on the anticipated growth of Zhang's wealth and more on his personal story.

Zhang was hailed as a "blank-paper hero" by the Gang of Four during the "cultural revolution" when education was despised and intellectuals regarded as socially inferior. The late Chairman Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing was a leading figure in the Gang of Four which dominated China's political stage at the time.

The national college entrance exam was cancelled after the "cultural revolution" began in 1966.

In 1973, the Gang of Four allowed an academic test to select young people recommended by grassroots officials. Zhang, a Liaoning Province native, sat the exam but wrote hardly anything on his paper.

Instead, on the back of it, he wrote a letter which said he had devoted all his time to busy farm work every day - "nearly 18 hours of labor each day" - to serve the people instead of reviewing his text books.

He also wrote that he despised those who dedicated a lot of time to going over academic work.

The letter, addressed "To whom it may concern," caught the attention of the Gang of Four and he was subsequently held up as a "heroic figure" and admitted to an agricultural college in Tieling in Liaoning Province.

The politically spiced recruitment misled many young people in China at the time to abandon their pursuit of academic work.

Zhang later became a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress before an abrupt fall from grace.

He was jailed as a "counter-revolutionary" when the Gang of Four was denounced in 1976, which also marked the end of the "cultural revolution."

He was released in 1991 after serving a 15-year term.

Zhang started an animal feedstuff company with three partners after his release and it has now grown into a group with 17 subordinate firms and net assets of nearly 100 million yuan.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)