Since the local “two sessions” in 2020, many local party and government officials in China have been adjusted, according to the statutory procedures, seven new provincial party secretaries were elected as chairmen of the Standing Committee of the provincial people’s congresses after taking office, while 10 new government “officials” have been voted on by the local people’s congresses as usual. The procedure or “to go to the generation to the right” or directly elected. In addition, three provinces and regions of the local CPPCC chairman of the post also changed people.
In the 20 local ministerial-level changes, most of the earlier local “two sessions” will have been finalized on the eve, but there are also several people’s adjustments are not expected. Of course, this “accident” naturally there are winners and “losers”.
Heilongjiang governor Hu Changsheng and Anhui governor Wang Qingxian straight line to the main position
Unlike the new local government hand often experience months or even a year of “acting” period, the new governor of Heilongjiang Hu Changsheng (1963) and Anhui Governor Wang Qingxian (1963) almost did not experience any transition period, directly from the original position seamlessly connected to the new position.
Hu Changsheng suddenly went north to Heilongjiang in January 2021 from his post as deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee and secretary of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee, acting as governor of Heilongjiang on February 2 and going to the “two sessions” in Heilongjiang on the 22nd.
Similarly, the same age Wang Qingxian’s ascendancy is basically the same. Wang Qingxian was transferred from the secretary of Qingdao Municipal Party Committee to the deputy secretary of Anhui Provincial Party Committee in January 2021, and was elected governor of Anhui Province on February 1 at the “two sessions” of Anhui Province. Although the two men did not break the rules, before that they were both in charge of sub-provincial cities, and Hu Changsheng also served as deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, but there are many others with comparable or even better qualifications, and they were able to break through the crowd of vice ministerial officials, even much shorter than the general promotion Time from vice to full ministerial level, which is indeed a surprising super runner.
Hu Changsheng taught at a university before he took charge of Heilongjiang, and during his political career in Chengdu, Sichuan, he studied ancient Chinese history at Shandong University and obtained his doctorate. Hu Changsheng’s experience is unique in that he spent his early years in politics in Sichuan, serving as secretary of the Ganzi Prefecture Party Committee. Only in 2015 did he move to Qinghai and become a deputy minister. Since then, Hu Changsheng has changed posts almost every year or two, from Qinghai to Fujian, and then to this new Heilongjiang, completing the career progress of other officials in just six years, which takes about 10 years to complete. In fact, until he went north to Heilongjiang to take charge, Hu Changsheng had been the deputy secretary of Fujian Provincial Party Committee for only three months, and Xiamen for less than two years.
Wang Qingxian is a media personality who spent his early years working for the Heilongjiang Daily and the People’s Daily and other central-level media, and then worked in the General Office of the Shanxi Provincial Government in 2004, and has since moved around to head several prefecture-level cities in Shanxi. After the 18th Communist Party Congress, the Shanxi corruption case, especially the Luliang case, Wang Qingxian got rid of this adverse impact and was transferred to Shandong from the Standing Committee of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee as Minister of Propaganda in 2017, which has opened up his career. Since then, Wang Qingxian has moved around a number of positions in just over three years, until this time he once again served across the provinces to head Anhui, where his time in Qingdao was similar to Hu Changsheng’s, and his promotion from deputy to full ministerial level took even less time (less than 4.5 years).
Although this is not an isolated case, the two are undoubtedly the best of the best in the entire CCP officialdom.
From the political heights of Shanghai Zhou Bo unexpectedly rose and fell
In contrast, Zhou Bo (1962), a full-time deputy secretary of Liaoning province, who had occupied a favorable position early on, has been moved in this local “two sessions”, but it is a big surprise.
On Jan. 30, Zhou Bo, who has been in Liaoning for two years, made a surprising jump from deputy to full ministerial level. At the Liaoning CPPCC meeting on the same day, Zhou Bo was elected as the chairman of Liaoning CPPCC. This also means that Zhou Bo retired to the second line in advance, basically saying goodbye to the power contest of the local big players —- Of course, the opportunity to flip is not completely absent, such as the current chairman of Guangxi Autonomous Region Lan Tianli (Zhuang, 1962) that is in 2020 from the position of the chairman of the Guangxi CPPCC back to power position, but such examples can be rare.
In fact, when Zhou Bo went north in early 2019, this was not at all what outside public opinion expected of his career prospects. Zhou Bo is a native of Shanghai and was assigned as a technician at the PVC plant of Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co Ltd, a local state-owned enterprise in Shanghai, and then served in key positions at Shanghai Tianyuan (Group) Co Ltd and Shanghai Huayi (Group) Co.
In 2013, Zhou Bo was promoted to vice mayor of Shanghai, among the deputy ministerial level, and at the end of 2015, Zhou Bo planted a “heel”, because of illegal acceptance of public funds for banquets, in violation of the eight provisions of the Central Committee, received a serious warning within the party. In 2017, Zhou Bo was elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee at the 19th CPC National Congress.
However, as a traditional political highland, Shanghai’s political scene is fierce, and public opinion generally believes that, given Zhou Bo’s qualifications at the time, the possibility of ascending to the top in situ is slim. In the context of the difficult to open the upward channel, cross-province experience is considered a good “curve” advancement opportunity.
However, in just two years, Zhou Bo’s colleagues at the time: the former Shanghai Municipal Party Committee full-time deputy secretary and secretary of the Political and Legal Committee Yin Hong in 2019 to cross the province to take charge of Henan, then Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection Liao Guoxun also briefly took over as Shanghai full-time deputy secretary in 2020 after moving to Tianjin to take charge, while the former Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong was promoted to Hubei Provincial Party Committee Secretary during the Hubei Epidemic in 2020, the mayor’s post was taken over by the former Shandong Provincial Governor Gong Zheng took over the baton.
As a colleague, Zhou Bo ended up as the chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and ultimately failed to go further and become one of the top officials, which is a pity. In fact, two years into the Liaoning political arena, Zhou Bo has left his familiar economic and financial field and does not seem to be as active as he once was.
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