Jiang Minkuan was a native of Wu County (now part of Suzhou), Jiangsu province. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in June 1961.[1] Starting in 1950 he worked as an engineer in the non-ferrous metal industry in Northeast China. In 1952 he studied Russian in Fushun, Liaoning province, and later trained and worked at an aluminium factory in the Ural region of the Soviet Union. After returning to China, he worked as a manager at the state-owned No. 101 Factory starting in 1955. In 1966 he became the deputy chief engineer of the state-owned No. 122 Factory, later promoted to chief engineer and general manager of the factory.[1]
In 1982, Jiang was appointed Deputy Communist Party Chief and Vice Governor of Sichuan province,[1] and three years later was promoted to Governor of Sichuan. He attempted to open up Sichuan's economy by linking it more closely with the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries.[2]: 382 However, his proposal was deemed "unrealistic" by premier Zhao Ziyang and was criticized by Yang Rudai, then Communist Party Chief of Sichuan. Due to his conflict with Yang, Jiang was replaced by Zhang Haoruo as Sichuan governor and transferred to the central government in 1988.[2]: 390–1
