Wu renbao biography of christopher

Wu Renbao, once photo-shopped onto this cover of Time Magazine, passed away Monday (Sina Weibo)

As Chinese media blog Danwei reported, Chinese media today was awash with covers commemorating "China's most famous peasant," a local official who passed away on March 18 (article in Chinese) from lung cancer.

As party secretary of a village in Jiangsu province, Wu Renbao pioneered an investment redistribution plan that added skyscrapers and luxury hotels to the village skyline, shaping the town of 35,000 into what's commonly known as " China's richest village."

And that makes Wu a cover boy for the type of redistributive economic policies that China's new government, which officially took the helm just days ago, has vowed to champion.

Cue the fawning obituaries (as China media blog Danwei highlights here).

But those were nothing compared to the mark the provincial leader left overseas, accord