Zhang Wenxian

Zhang was born in Zhenping County, Nanyang, Henan, in August 1951. He began working in February 1970 at the Second Machinery Factory of the Ministry of Petroleum and later joined the Chinese Communist Party in November 1975. After working at the Nanyang Regional Committee of the CCP, he entered Jilin University in August 1974 to study political and legal science at the Faculty of Law. Following his undergraduate education, Zhang continued as a teaching assistant and lecturer at Jilin University, completing a master's degree in Legal Theory from 1979 to 1982. During this period, he also undertook further studies at Peking University (1982–1983) and was a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School in the United States (1983–1985).^[3]

From 1985 to 1988, Zhang served as deputy director and associate professor of the Faculty of Law at Jilin University. In 1988, he was exceptionally promoted to full professor and subsequently became vice dean (1988–1991), including a senior visiting scholar period at the University of Washington School of Law (1989–1990).^[4] Between 1991 and 1994, he was dean of the Faculty of Law, professor, and doctoral supervisor. Zhang also held administrative posts as member of the university’s Party Committee and vice president from 1994 to 2002, during which he completed an on-the-job Doctorate in Marxist Philosophy at Jilin University and was appointed as a doctoral supervisor in Legal Theory in 1999. He served as Party Secretary of Jilin University from 2002 to 2007.^[3]

Zhang transitioned to the judiciary in 2007, serving as Party Secretary and vice president of the Jilin Provincial Higher People’s Court, and later as court president and second-class grand judge (2008–2013). Concurrently, he held various roles in legal academia and associations, including vice president and academic committee director of the China Law Society since 2013, director of the Jilin University Center for Theoretical Legal Studies, senior professor in philosophy and social sciences at Jilin University, and later a senior professor at Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School.^[5] He also served as vice president of the Chinese Judicial Research Society.^[6]

Zhang represented the CCP at the 17th and 20th National Congresses, served as a delegate to the 11th National People’s Congress, and has been involved in multiple sessions of the China Law Society as vice president.^[7][8]