Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Zhang Yong (politician)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Sandstein 21:55, 19 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Zhang Yong (politician)[edit]

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

There are two references, and Reference 2 does not mention the name at all. There's indeed an individual named Zhang Yong with the National Development and Reform Commission per [1], but he is clearly not the same person as the real estate businessman mentioned in Reference 1. (Simply compare the men in these photos, [2] with [3]). I don't know who this article is supposed to be about, the government official or the real estate businessman, or if either one is notable. Timmyshin (talk) 20:29, 12 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Comment - this is a peculiar case. There is a politician named Zhang Yong who is certainly notable. He served as Director of the China Food and Drug Administration (see China Vitae and zh:张勇 (官员)), a minister-level position. But as noted by the nominator, the article completely mixes up two different people with the same name. The article needs to be either WP:TNT'ed or rewritten. -Zanhe (talk) 22:12, 12 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
- Keep - I've nuked all the info about the unrelated businessman, and expanded the article with other positions he's held. It should now be kept as a workable stub about a high-ranking politician. -Zanhe (talk) 23:59, 12 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  - @Zanhe: Oops, my mistake - didn't notice the two were not the same person. Thanks for your edits. Sorry for the confusion! Λυδ α cιτγ 06:24, 13 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
    - @Audacity: no worries. China Vitae has also mixed up the two people, giving the businessman's birth place to the politician. -Zanhe (talk) 15:23, 13 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Businesspeople-related deletion discussions. Nat965 (talk) 23:32, 12 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions. Nat965 (talk) 23:32, 12 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of China-related deletion discussions. Nat965 (talk) 23:32, 12 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Delete, without prejudice against recreation if somebody can do much better than this. The roles claimed here would certainly get him into Wikipedia if he could be sourced over WP:GNG for them, but none of them are "inherently" notable enough to guarantee him a Wikipedia article just because he exists — but the sourcing here largely isn't cutting it for getting him over GNG. Two of the three footnotes are mere directories, and while the third does appear to represent media coverage that's substantively about him, it takes more than just one viable source to pass GNG if that source isn't verifying anything that would constitute an automatic free pass over any SNG. Bearcat (talk) 18:46, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

He served as Director of the China Food and Drug Administration, making him the Chinese counterpart to Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Article is still short, but AfD is about establishing notability, which the existing sources have established beyond reasonable doubt. -Zanhe (talk) 19:35, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Some English sources: [4] [5] [6]. And there are thousands more. I'll add some to the article if I have the time, but I'm busy with other things and don't want to be sucked into becoming its main author. -Zanhe (talk) 19:51, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Two of those three sources you singled out are primary sources, not reliable, independent or notability-supporting ones — a person qualifies for a Wikipedia article by being the subject of media coverage, not by being the subject of press releases from his own employer — and the one that is media coverage counts as one data point toward a requirement for several data points. Scott Gottlieb is not notable just because he exists, or even because of his title — he's notable because he gets a GNG-passing volume of media coverage for doing his job, and it hasn't yet been shown that Zhang Yong gets a comparable degree of coverage in reliable sources. Bearcat (talk) 02:40, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Give me a break, that's equivalent to saying the US gov is not a reliable source for biographical information about American politicians. And claiming the top food and drug regulator of the world's biggest country does not receive enough coverage to meet GNG simply stretches the bounds of credulity. Didn't I provide you the Google search link in addition to the three I casually picked? You could've gone through the first few pages to find wide media coverage such as [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]. And these are merely English sources. There are far more in Chinese, but I've already wasted too much of my time on this. -Zanhe (talk) 03:28, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

There's a difference between a source that's valid for the verification of facts and a source which is valid for the conferral of notability. There's only one type of source that can do the latter thing, and that's substantive media coverage about the person in sources fully independent of him. Even for a US government official reflected in the US government's own website, that website does the "verification of the fact" thing, but does not do the "conferring notability for the fact" thing. Bearcat (talk) 04:49, 19 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - as per Zanhe's arguments. Article should be equipped with tags that will attract users who know the subject well to further expand the article, clean it and add references. --Ajgorhoe (talk) 23:08, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - Now that the correct person has been identified, Zanhe's case is stronger. The person is the head of the NRDA, has GNG coverage. If any link to Mandarin Wikipedia article, share or else would recommend that is created after this. --Simone2049 04:15, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Simone2049: the Chinese Wikipedia article was created five years ago, see zh:张勇 (官员). -Zanhe (talk) 04:28, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Zanhe: strengthens the case even further. Article in Mandarin around the same length in English, which is good for global alignment on Wiki. -Simone2049 (talk) 04:50, 15 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. Has held several positions easily senior enough to meet the notability threshold. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:57, 18 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.