Liang Wengen, China's richest man and chairman of the Hunan-based heavy machinery producer Sany Group, looks set to become the first private entrepreneur to enter the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), media reports said on Sunday.
Both Liang and Tang Xiuguo, president of Sany, confirmed with the Guangzhou-based Time Weekly newspaper last week that the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee had completed the evaluation of Liang.
The Singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao newspaper further elaborated that Liang could be elected as a member or an alternate member of the Central Committee during the 18th CPC National Congress, which will be held in autumn 2012.
"There is a possibility that Liang may be assigned to roles in the Hunan provincial government or the government of the provincial capital Changsha," the Time Weekly quoted a local official as saying, who added that the provincial leadership needs people like Liang who are experienced in enterprise management.
Both the Hurun Report and Forbes listed Liang, 57, as the richest Chinese person this year with a wealth of about $10 billion.
Liang was born into a poor family in a mountain village in Lianyuan county, Hunan. His family made their living by making bamboo handicrafts. In the late 1970s, Liang enrolled in the Central South University to study metallic materials.
He entered the Ministry of Ordnance Industry after graduation and founded Sany in 1987 after leaving the ministry. He became a Party member in 2004, shortly after his company became listed and his fortune grew massively.
A number of renowned businessmen, such as Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin and Chairman of Sinopec Li Yi, have been accepted by the Party leadership. But those companies are either State-owned or connected with the CPC, whereas Liang would be the first person from the private sector.
"Liang's confirmation with Time Weekly meant that preliminary procedures for Liang's possible Party role had been completed, and only a few more steps, including an official announcement, are needed," Liu Suhua, an associate professor of the Political Science and Law Department at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times.
