What’s new: Shaanxi’s governor Zhao Yide has been appointed party secretary of the northwestern province, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported, making the 57-year-old the youngest provincial-level party chief in China.
Zhao, a long-time party official in East China’s Zhejiang province, took over from Liu Guozhong, who was promoted in October to the Communist Party Central Committee’s 24-member Politburo, the country’s top decision-making body.
Zhao, born in February 1965, is about a month younger than Fujian’s recently appointed party head Zhou Zuyi. Zhou, former minister of human resources and social security, replaced Politburo member Yin Li in mid-November as the party secretary of the eastern province.
The background: A native of Wenling, Zhejiang, Zhao worked for more than three decades in his home province, serving in positions including mayor of Wenzhou, as well as party chief of Hangzhou and Quzhou. He became secretary-general of the provincial party committee in 2012, taking the role from current Politburo Standing Committee member Li Qiang.
Zhao was appointed deputy party chief of Shaanxi in July 2020 and chosen to be governor of the province one month later, after briefly serving as deputy party secretary of North China’s Hebei province.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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