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Yang Rudai (w=Yang Ju-tai; December 1926 – 24 February 2018) was a politician of the People's Republic of China (PRC). He served as the Party Secretary of Sichuan, then China's most populous province, and was the first native Sichuanese to become the top leader of the province since the founding of the PRC. He was a member of the 13th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, the top governing body of China. Yang was considered a protégé of the purged reformist leader Zhao Ziyang.
In the early 1950s Yang actively participated in the land reform that was carried out by the newly established People's Republic of China and was rewarded for his performance. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1952, and was promoted just two years later to Deputy Party Chief of Renshou County. During the political radicalization of the 1960s, Yang's humble family background made him a model of the "class line" of the Sichuan provincial chief Li Jingquan, and he was promoted to First Party Secretary of Renshou. However, he subsequently was persecuted due to this tie to Li Jingquan when Li fell from power during the Cultural Revolution.
When Zhao Ziyang left Sichuan to become the Premier of China in 1980, Yang was favoured to succeed him as the provincial chief. However, Tan Qilong, a senior revolutionary leader, was chosen instead to replace Zhao as a transitional leader to "assist" the relatively young Yang Rudai. Yang became one of the several party secretaries of Sichuan under Tan, but he took charge of the daily operation of the province.
Two years later, Tan Qilong retired from politics along with most senior leaders of the revolutionary generation, and Yang Rudai succeeded him to become the first Sichuan native to serve as its top provincial leader. He was also elected to the 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 1982. In 1987 he rose further to become a member of the 13th Politburo, one of China's top decision-making bodies, which was headed by Yang's old boss Zhao Ziyang as General Secretary.
Jiang was replaced as governor by Zhang Haoruo in 1988, who came from a "princeling" background and enjoyed a close relationship with Premier Li Peng. Yang and Zhang had serious conflicts during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Yang urged the central government to handle the protests peacefully, while Zhang supported the hardline advocated by Li Peng and others. After the imposition of martial law by the central government, Yang changed his position and adopted a harsh policy toward student protesters in Sichuan. Severe conflicts broke out after the arrest of many demonstrators, and the largest shopping center in the provincial capital Chengdu was burned down.
In the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests, Zhao Ziyang was purged and placed under house arrest in 1989. Yang, considered a protégé of Zhao, kept his Politburo membership until his term ended. However, he was not reelected into the 14th Politburo in 1992 despite not having reached the retirement age.
In July 2010 Yang published a memoir in the liberal Chinese magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu praising Zhao Ziyang. It marked a rare break of the long-standing taboo in China against mentioning the former leader since he was ousted after the Tiananmen protests.
| Vice-Chairman of the 8th and 9th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference |
| Member of the 8th National People's Congress |
| Member of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, elected to its politburo |
| Member of the 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party |
| Party Secretary of Sichuan |
| Vice Governor of Sichuan |
| Member of the CPC Sichuan Provincial and Standing Committees |
| Party Secretary of Leshan |
| Member of the 4th National People's Congress |
| Party Secretary of Renshou |
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