Leadership Reshuffles Unfold in Chinese Provinces

Several Chinese provinces unveiled leadership changes for their capital cities in April as a new round of local government reshuffles continues unfolding across the country.

Five provincial capitals announced the appointment or departure of top officials during the month, including Changchun in Jilin province, Nanjing in Jiangsu, Nanchang in Jiangxi, Shijiazhuang in Hebei and Lanzhou in Gansu.

Leadership changes in provincial capitals are the most important part of local government personnel reshuffles.

Between January and March, four provincial-level governments — Qinghai, Tibet, Ningxia and Hunan —named new party chiefs for their capital cities, all selecting from local officials.

By the end of April, about a third of China’s 28 provinces and autonomous regions announced leadership changes.

On April 26, Shijiazhuang, the 11 million population capital of Northeast China’s Hebei, got its new Communist Party chief with the appointment of Zhang Chaochao, a former senior party official in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China. Zhang is one of the youngest provincial-level officials in China.

Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu, appointed its Mayor Han Liming to take the simultaneous position as party chief.

Changchun’s party chief Wang Kai was transferred to Henan after two years in the position and was named acting governor of Henan. Nanchang party chief Wu Xiaojun moved to Qinghai, filling a two-year vacancy as the western province’s deputy provincial party chief. Lanzhou’s party chief Li Rongcai also departed after four years in the post, taking a position as a party standing committee member in Hubei.

The cities haven't announced successors for the departed officials.

Here are major leadership changes in provincial capitals so far this year:

• Han Liming, Nanjing city mayor, was named the city’s Communist Party chief.

• Wang Zhonglin, Wuhan party chief, was appointed party chief of provincial government of Hubei.

• Zhang Chaochao, a former party standing committee member in the Ningxia regional government, was named party head of Shijiazhuang.

• Zhang Zhu, a former party chief of Guyuan city, was transferred to Yinchuan as party chief.

• Wu Guiying, a former deputy governor of Hunan, was appointed Changsha party chief.

• Yan Jinhai, a deputy party chief of Tibet, was named party head of Lhasa.

• Chen Ruifeng, a former publicity head of the Qinghai provincial government, was named party chief of Xining.

• Wang Kai, a former party chief of Changchun, was promoted to acting deputy governor of Henan.

• Li Rongcan, a former party chief of Lanzhou, was named party standing committee member of the Hubei provincial government.

• Wu Xiaojun, a former party chief of Nanchang, was named deputy provincial party chief of Qinghai.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)

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