Zhang Junsheng was a Chinese optical engineer, politician, and academic administrator.
18 Facts About Zhang Junsheng
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Zhang Junsheng spent 25 years as an engineering professor at Zhejiang University and won two national science and technology awards, before entering politics and being sent to Hong Kong in 1985 to prepare for the British colony's return to China.
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Zhang Junsheng oversaw the school's merger with three other universities and used his Hong Kong connections to raise funds for the university.
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Zhang Junsheng was born in 1936 in Changting County, Fujian Province.
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Zhang Junsheng joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1956, and was hired by the university as a faculty member after his graduation in 1958.
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Zhang Junsheng co-founded the laser program at Zhejiang University in 1973 and won another National Science and Technology Prize for a solar spectrometer, for which he designed the mechanical components.
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Zhang Junsheng was promoted to party secretary of ZJU's Optical Engineering Department in 1978.
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In 1983, Zhang Junsheng was appointed deputy party secretary of Hangzhou, beginning his political career.
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Zhang Junsheng served as deputy director, then director of the Hong Kong branch's publicity department, before being promoted to deputy director and spokesman of the branch in 1988.
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When Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, attempted to implement political reforms prior to the handover, Zhang Junsheng publicly feuded with Patten, and their dispute dominated news headlines in Hong Kong.
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Zhang Junsheng accused Patten of violating the Sino-British agreement and called him "a prostitute who still wanted an arch to be erected to honour her as a chaste woman".
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Zhang Junsheng was appointed Party Secretary of Zhejiang University and oversaw the merger of Hangzhou University, Zhejiang Agricultural University and Zhejiang Medical University into ZJU.
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Zhang Junsheng hired the famous writer Jin Yong as president of ZJU's Institute of Humanities, and used his connections to solicit major donations from Hong Kong businesspeople such as Run Run Shaw and Tin Ka Ping.
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Zhang Junsheng taught as a part-time professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Communication University of China, in addition to Zhejiang University.
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Zhang Junsheng reportedly gave the go-ahead for the Wen Wei Po, Beijing's mouthpiece in Hong Kong, to publish an editorial with only four words: "deep grief" and "bitter hatred" after the government crackdown, but survived the ensuing purge of officials who supported political reform.
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Zhang Junsheng said the localist activists were too young to understand the history of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, and advocated "national education" for students in Hong Kong.
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Zhang Junsheng dismissed the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement in 2014 and criticized its pro-democracy leaders for having "never done anything good for Hong Kong".
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On 19 February 2018, Zhang Junsheng died in Hangzhou from cardiac arrest, at the age of 81.