Regret the death of Zhou Daojiong, former chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission! In the year of Huajia, he was ordered to be in danger and was called the "captain of the firefight"!

Edited by Li Zedong

According to brokerage China, this morning (January 12), reporters confirmed from many sources that Zhou Daojiong, the second chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and who had dealt with the "327 Treasury Bond Futures Incident" and the "Qiong Minyuan Incident", although he was not in office for a long time, was known as the "firefighting captain" in the securities market, died of illness in Beijing on January 11, 2024, at the age of 91.

Zhou Daojiong was born in Anhui in 1933.

From December 1984 ~ March 1994, he served as the President of China Construction Bank, and concurrently served as the Executive Deputy Director of the Securities Commission of the State Council since October 1992.

From April 1994 ~ March 1995, he served as Vice President of China Development Bank.

From March 1995 ~ June 1997, he served as the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

As the second chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Zhou Daojiong's main job after taking office is to promote the standardized development of China's capital market.

He once said: "In June 1997, I retired from the Securities and Futures Commission. The six years before and after the Securities Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission are unforgettable years for my life, and the capital market is the most cutting-edge and riskiest area in the financial market.

Zhou Daojiong Image source: Shenzhen Stock Exchange

From county clerk to chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission

In December 1933, Zhou Daojiong was born in Yecha Village, Lidong Township, She County, Anhui Province. "I have lived and worked in Anhui for more than 50 years, 17 of which were in the countryside. Looking back on his early experience, Zhou Daojiong believes that the experience in Anhui is a very important stage in his life.

In 1946, when Zhou Daojiong was in junior high school, he dropped out of school at home due to schistosomiasis. During his treatment, he helped his father with chores and continued to study. During his treatment, he read almost all the books he could find in the village at that time.

Although his academic qualifications are not high and he did not graduate from middle school, Zhou Daojiong has a strong self-learning ability, and a lot of knowledge is self-taught on the job. When Zhou Daojiong was 15 years old, Zhou Daojiong's village established a peasant association, and he served as the squad leader of the peasant association's traffic class to deliver letters to the guerrillas. This became the beginning of his revolutionary path.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in May 1950, Zhou Daojiong worked in the Finance Department of the Democratic Government of She County. Due to his outstanding performance, he was transferred to the Finance Department of the Huizhou Special Administration in September 1951 to engage in audit work. In 1956, he was transferred to the Anhui Provincial Department of Finance. He first served as an editor and deputy editor-in-chief of the internal journal of Anhui Finance, and participated in the drafting of the work report of the department's leaders. Later, Zhou Daojiong successively served as deputy director, deputy director, director of the office of the Anhui Provincial Department of Finance, and finally the secretary general of the provincial government. This former traffic team member has gradually grown into a very mature financial cadre. In the financial position of Anhui Province, Zhou Daojiong has worked for 33 years. At the end of 1984, at the age of 51, Zhou Daojiong was transferred to Beijing to become president of the China Construction Bank. In the 10 years since, he has witnessed the birth, ups and downs of China Construction Bank.

From the clerk of the county finance department to the director of the provincial finance department to the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Zhou Daojiong has come step by step. Zhou Daojiong has been working in the financial field for the longest time, and he summed up his more than 10 years of work experience as director of finance in five sentences: we must dare to speak, we must tell the truth, we must act out of public spirit, we must have thick skin, and we must have a big belly.

In the year of the sixtieth year, he was ordered to be called the "fire captain"!

Zhou Daojiong's oral account jointly compiled by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Securities Times mentioned that on February 23, 1995, the "327 Incident" broke out, which had a great impact at that time and involved millions of people. At that time, I was in the process of setting up the China Development Bank, and the central leaders called me and asked me to be the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and I said that I was 62 years old, and I was going to retire, and I still wanted to be the chairman of the China Securities Commission. If I want to go to the SFC, I'm 62 years old, and I tell jokes that it's destined to go through these things.

On March 31, 1995, I took office urgently. The first major event after taking office was to deal with the risk of the "327 Treasury Bond Futures Incident", at that time, a large number of institutions and small and medium-sized investors had already participated in the treasury bond futures market, involving many interests. In May, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) implemented the central government's decision to suspend the pilot project of treasury bond futures, and grasped various implementation and aftermath work. After this incident, Wanguo Securities, one of China's largest securities companies at the time, was taken over by Shenyin, which also affected many people. I became the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in such a hurry, and later dealt with a lot of risks, and some reporter friends said that I was a "fire captain" in those years, but I didn't expect it.

According to a report by the Securities Times, when he first became chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, he asked the China Securities Regulatory Commission to draw up a "Ninth Five-Year Plan," the full name of which is "Draft Development Plan for China's Securities Market from the Ninth Five-Year Plan Period to 2010," hoping to lay a foundation and practice internal skills. In 2004, the State Council promulgated the Several Opinions on Promoting the Reform, Opening-up and Stable Development of the Capital Market, commonly known as the "Nine Articles". The "Nine Articles" absorbed many of the suggestions in the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" of that year.

In 1997, when the mainland economy successfully made a soft landing, Zhou Daojiong's days as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission also ended, and when he left office, he jokingly said that he had "achieved a safe landing".

"In June 1997, at the handover meeting between me and Comrade Zhou Zhengqing, I jokingly said that I had been sitting on the crater for more than two years, and now I am very glad that I landed safely. It's up to you to sit and take off, and I'm sure you'll fly better and safer than I do. Less than three years later, I heard that this sentence was also repeated at the handover meeting between Zhou Zhengqing and Zhou Xiaochuan. ”

National Business Daily, Comprehensive Securities Times, Brokerage China, Shenzhen Stock Exchange

National Business Daily