Ex-Chinese premier, architect of growth, dies at 98

Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji has died, according to State media. The impatient, sharp—tongued reformer helped ignite China’s explosive economic boom by forcing wrenching change on state industry in the 1990s and leading the country into the World Trade Organisation. The official Xinhua news agency reported that Zhu died of illness in Beijing at around 11 am on Wednesday. He was 97 years old.

Once sent into rural exile to do manual labor for praising reforms in other communist countries, Zhu pushed through a dizzying array of changes as premier, China’s top economic post, from 1998 to 2003. Zhu clashed with Communist Party conservatives and State industry bosses as he pushed State-owned companies to become efficient and profitable.

That cost millions of layoffs, but helped propel China to overtake Japan as the second-largest economy behind the United States in 2010.