Liu Yunshan
Liu Yunshan (; ; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the top decision-making body of the CCP, between 2012 and 2017; he was broadly tasked with the work of the party's secretariat, overseeing propaganda and ideological indoctrination, as well as party organization, in addition to serving as President of the Central Party School. Liu built his career in Inner Mongolia, working initially as a teacher, then a Xinhua reporter, before entering the Communist Youth League and the Inner Mongolia party propaganda department. He had a short stint working as the Party Secretary of the city of Chifeng, in Inner Mongolia. Between 2002 and 2012, Liu served as the head of the Central Propaganda Department. Liu, generally perceived by observers to be a conservative and orthodox Communist, oversaw the gradual tightening of internet controls in China during his tenure, as well as an overall reduction in free discourse and civil society. He retired in 2017. Early life Liu was born to an ordinary family of farmers in Tumed Qi in Inner Mongolia; he traces his ancestry to Xinzhou, Shanxi province. He spent over twenty years