VZCZCXRO2488
RR RUEHCN RUEHVC
DE RUEHGH #7121/01 3460917
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 120917Z DEC 06
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5353
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 5681

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 007121 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM, INR/B AND INR/EAP 
NSC FOR WILDER AND TONG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  X1 MANUAL REVIEW 
TAGS: PGOV PINR EINV ECON KPAO CH
SUBJECT: (C) BIO DETAILS UFWD HEAD LIU YANDONG'S HUSBAND 
 
SHANGHAI 00007121  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Mary Tarnowka, Political/Economic Section Chief, 
U.S. Consulate, Shanghai, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (c), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: On December 4, Poloff met with Yang Yuanxing 
(STC: 2799/0337/1932), husband of Hu Jintao protigi and United 
Front Work Department Head Liu Yandong, in connection with a 
visa referral for his upcoming tourist trip to the United States 
on December 20.  Liu has been rumored to be in line to take over 
as Shanghai Party Secretary from acting Party Secretary Han 
Zheng sometime in the next year.  Yang provided biographical 
details about himself, his wife and his daughter.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) Yang explained that both he and his wife were "cadre 
kids" (gaogan zidi).  Both of them spent the first eight years 
of their lives in Shanghai, although neither was born there. 
Yang was born April 22, 1942, in Hubei and his wife was born in 
Tongzhou, Jiangsu.  Her family home--the place where her 
father's family was from--is Nantong.  Yang's father, Yang 
Xiandong, was an agriculture specialist who graduated with a PhD 
from Cornell University in 1937.  He had been an official in the 
Shanghai government and moved to Beijing in 1949 to be a vice 
minister in the first Ministry of Agriculture in the new PRC 
government.  Yang Xiandong did not join the Chinese Communist 
Party until after he moved to Beijing.  According to the 1981 
version of "Who's Who in the People's Republic of China," Yang 
Xiandong also participated in the first session of the first 
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in September 
¶1949. 
 
¶3.  (C) Liu attended the high school affiliated with Qinghua 
University.  In the early 1970s, during the Cultural Revolution 
(1966-76), Liu was selected as one of a handful of people to 
study English.  She still speaks reasonably well, according to 
Yang.  Yang speaks Russian, having studied it during college. 
He also speaks a few phrases in English, but not enough to carry 
on a simple conversation. 
 
¶4.  (C) Early on during the Cultural Revolution, Yang's father 
was accused of being a spy for the United States.  Yang was sent 
down to the countryside, but was spared from the severe 
persecution that many of his cadre kid friends endured because 
his father had been on close terms with Chairman Mao Zedong. 
(Note: According to "Who's Who," Yang Xiandong was at least 
partially rehabilitated in 1972 when he made a public appearance 
at the mourning ceremony for a deceased famous cadre.  He was 
not identified in the press further until 1978 when he 
reappeared as the president of the Agriculture Society.  By the 
following year he was restored to his post of Vice Minister of 
Agriculture.  End note.)  Yang was not inclined to say much 
about his experiences during the Cultural Revolution.  He did, 
however, say that Liu had fared better than he had during the 
period because of her family connections, although he did not go 
into detail about Liu's family. 
 
¶5.  (C) Yang said he and Liu Yandong had been married for 35 
years and had one child, a 34 year old daughter.  Yang said that 
during the early years of their marriage, he and Liu had been 
too poor to afford to have another child.  Their daughter spent 
seven years in the United States in New York City, arriving in 
the mid 1990s.  She had been visiting Washington DC with a 
Japanese friend during the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  That 
morning, the two had been slated to visit the Pentagon and 
missed the attack by half an hour; she saw the flames from the 
hotel where she was staying.  Both parents tried unsuccessfully 
to reach her for several hours.  When Liu finally reached her, 
she suggested that her daughter return to China, settle down and 
get married.  The daughter agreed and currently resides in 
Beijing.  Yang did not say if she was currently married. 
 
¶6.  (C) Yang has a total of three siblings: two younger sisters; 
and one younger brother.  His brother's family resides in Salt 
Lake City, Utah, although his brother is currently living in 
Singapore where he is conducting business.  All of Yang's 
siblings are U.S. citizens, although he rarely visits them when 
he travels to the United States.  Yang has several cousins and 
friends in the United States as well.  Yang has been to the 
United States several times, most recently in 2004. 
 
¶7.  (C) Yang owns his own business, China Southeast Technology 
Trading Head Office (Zhongguo Dongnan Jishu Maoyi Zonggongsi), 
located in Beijing's Haidian District at No. 3 Fuxing Road, Room 
320 of the Science and Technology Hall ("keji huitang"), with 
capitalization well in excess of RMB 1 million.  His company 
deals with: "new technology, new products, development of 
 
SHANGHAI 00007121  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
electronics products, research and manufacture, application, 
sales, and consultancy; computer network systems engineering; 
and cosmetics research, production, and sales." 
 
¶8.  (C) Yang is also the secretary general of the "Lu Xun 
Cultural Garden Planning and Construction Committee" in Beijing. 
 He said that currently, the committee was selling off 
properties that it owned to get capital and tearing down 
residential units on other land it owned to make space for the 
garden.  Yang noted that he is distantly related to the famous 
Chinese author Lu Xun, which was why they had named the project 
after him.  Yang said that initially, he had been paying Lu 
Xun's son 40,000 RMB per year for the right to use "Lu Xun" in 
the title.  Yang recently decided to change the name of the 
venture to "Lu Yi" to avoid having to pay the fee.  While he 
stopped paying Lu Xun's son, his business card still bears the 
name "Lu Xun" and, Yang said, the business is still officially 
registered as "Lu Xun."  The project's website is 
"www.lyshc.com". 
 
¶9.  (C) Yang is also a photography buff and travels around China 
and the world on photo excursions with his two DSLR cameras--a 
Canon and a Nikon.  In fact, his meeting with Poloff was to 
request a visa referral so he could spend 20-30 days traveling 
the United States to take pictures.  Yang said that Liu is also 
very interested in photography, but does not have time to pursue 
this interest due to her job.  Yang is very interested in travel 
and boasted that he is friends with the heads of many tourist 
associations and top-quality hotels throughout China. 
 
¶10.  (S) Yang's personal passport number is G03990756.  It was 
issued April 16 2002, and expires April 15 2007.  He has a 
Beijing "hukou" residence and his identification card number is 
¶110102194204222310.  According to his business card, Yang's 
phone number is 86-10-8846-2789.  His fax number is 
86-10-8846-2790.  His cell phone number is 1390-138-8790. 
 
¶11.  (C) Yang attended the lunch with Ms. Zhang Shidan, Deputy 
Director of the Zhejiang Association for Science and Technology 
International Department.  Ms. Zhang appeared to be in her early 
30s and spoke excellent English.  She said that Yang was 
affiliated with the National Association for Science and 
Technology, which was why she had traveled with him.  It did not 
appear that they had known each other long prior to this lunch. 
JARRETT