Zhu Senlin, a former Guangdong governor and key enforcer of the province’s economic transformation when China was opening up in the 1990s, died on Monday aged 95, according to official media. Nanfang Daily, mouthpiece of the Guangdong party committee, confirmed on Tuesday that Zhu had died due to illness. Former Guangdong governor Zhu Senlin instituted China’s first “honorary citizen” award in Guangzhou in 1986 in a bid to recognise the vital role of overseas Chinese, a move later replicated elsewhere in China. Along with then Guangdong party chief Xie Fei , he flanked Deng during the party patriarch’s visit to the province. Zhu Senlin takes part in a foundation stone-laying ceremony for the bridge that links Guangzhou and Dongguan in 1992.