A carpenter on the building of the Great Hall of the People who became mayor of Tianjin, sat on the Politburo Standing Committee from 1989 to 2002 and chaired the national 政协 from 1993 to 2003.
Li Ruihuan served as mayor and Party secretary of Tianjin.
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history
As a young carpenter he worked out quick arithmetic for cutting timber that replaced full-size layout drawings, and the press called him 青年鲁班 'young Lu Ban', after the legendary master builder. A 1964 film about him used that name.
culture
A lifelong Peking opera fan, he led the 京剧音配像 project, which gave pictures to 460 old recordings: younger actors, often the singers' own students or children, mimed the roles on film to the old soundtracks.
