Background
Jiao Yulu was born on August 16, 1922 in Boshan, Shandong, China to a poor family. Both his father Jiao Fangtian (焦方田) and mother were farmers.
焦裕禄
Jiao Yulu was born on August 16, 1922 in Boshan, Shandong, China to a poor family. Both his father Jiao Fangtian (焦方田) and mother were farmers.
Jiao Yulu had only four years of schooling. His father hanged himself during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Jiao Yulu was conscripted into the Japanese labor and he was sent to coal-mining in Fushun, Liaoning, Manchoukuo. He escaped to Suqian, Jiangsu in the fall of 1943. He had been a farm labourer for two years for the landowner Hu Tairong (胡泰荣).
In 1945, after the defeat of the Japanese in the Second World War, Jiao Yulu returned his hometown and joined a militia. He once took part in the battle of liberating Boshan District. Jiao Yulu joined the Communist Party of China in January 1946, and he soon was transferred to Bohai, Shandong and appointed a group leader of the Land Reform movement. By late Chinese Civil War, Jiao Yulu worked in Weishi County, Henan province until 1951. In June 1953, he was transferred to Luoyang Mine Machine Manufacturing Plant and worked there until 1962.
In June 1962, Jiao Yulu was appointed Communist Party Secretary of Weishi County. In December, he became the Second Communist Party Secretary of Lankao County. This region had declined into poverty and ignorance. Jiao Yulu devoted his energies to fight economic backwardness. He mobilized the local residents to contend with the poor natural conditions. Due to years of toil, Jiao Yulu broke down from constant overwork and he was diagnosed with liver cancer. But he continued his struggle against natural disasters. On May 14, 1964, he died of liver cancer, aged 42.
Jiao Yulu married Xu Junya (1932-2005, (徐俊雅), a female politician from Weishi County, Henan province. They had three sons and three daughters.