Personnel Update | They Previously Served as Party Secretaries of the Ministry of Natural Resources

The Ministry of Natural Resources welcomes its third Party Secretary.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources’ website, on the morning of December 10, officials from the Central Organization Department attended a leadership meeting at the Ministry of Natural Resources to announce a central decision: Comrade Guan Zhi’ao has been appointed as the Party Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources, while Comrade Wang Guanghua has been relieved of his duties as Party Secretary of the Ministry and will be assigned to another position.

Guan Zhi’ao, male, of Manchu ethnicity, was born in December 1969 in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. He joined the Communist Party of China in December 1993 and began working in July 1995. He holds a graduate degree and a Doctorate in Science. He is an alternate member of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Guan Zhi’ao worked in Liaoning in his early years, serving as the Director and Party Secretary of the Shenyang Planning and Land Resources Bureau, Deputy Mayor of Shenyang, Director and Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Agricultural Committee, and Director of the Provincial Grain Bureau. He was also a member of the Liaoning Provincial Government Party Group and Secretary-General, as well as a member of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial Federation of Trade Unions. In 2018, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and served as the Minister of the Propaganda Department and Secretary of the Provincial Education Working Committee. In 2020, he was appointed as a member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Party Secretary and Director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (National Park Administration).

Looking back at the history of natural resource management in China since the founding of the People’s Republic, resources were initially viewed primarily as agricultural, forestry, pastoral, sideline, fishery, and industrial resources, with corresponding management agencies spread across different departments until the Ministry of Land and Resources was established in 1998.

According to the China Land and Resources News, during the institutional reform of the State Council in 1998, the former Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, the National Land Administration, the National Oceanic Administration, and the National Surveying and Mapping Bureau were merged to form the Ministry of Land and Resources, which was responsible for the planning, management, protection, and rational use of land, mineral, and marine resources.

In March 2018, the Ministry of Natural Resources was established, with Lu Hao serving as the Minister and Party Secretary.

The explanation of the State Council’s institutional reform plan pointed out the need to unify the responsibilities of the state as the owner of all natural resource assets, to consolidate the management of land use and ecological protection and restoration, and to address issues such as inadequate natural resource ownership and overlapping spatial planning. The plan proposed integrating the responsibilities of the Ministry of Land and Resources, the National Development and Reform Commission’s responsibilities for organizing and compiling the main functional area planning, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development’s urban planning management responsibilities, the Ministry of Water Resources’ water resource investigation and registration management responsibilities, the Ministry of Agriculture’s grassland resource investigation and registration management responsibilities, the National Forestry Administration’s responsibilities for forest and wetland resource investigation and registration management, the responsibilities of the National Oceanic Administration, and the responsibilities of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation to form the Ministry of Natural Resources as a component of the State Council.

Lu Hao previously served as Deputy Mayor of Beijing, First Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, and Governor of Heilongjiang Province. In June 2022, he was transferred from the Ministry of Natural Resources to serve as the Party Secretary of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Subsequently, Wang Guanghua took over as Party Secretary and Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Wang Guanghua, born in 1963, previously served as the Director of the Land Registration Division of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Deputy Minister and Party Member of the Ministry. In March 2018, he became Deputy Minister and Party Member of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and in 2022, he was appointed as Party Secretary and Minister of the Ministry, also serving as the National Chief Inspector of Natural Resources.

During the period of the Ministry of Land and Resources, individuals such as Sun Wensheng, Xu Shaoshi, Jiang Daming, and Sun Shaocheng served as Party Secretaries of the Ministry.

Sun Wensheng, born in 1942, previously held positions such as Secretary of the Zhuzhou Municipal Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, and Governor of Shanxi Province. He served as Minister and Party Secretary of the Ministry of Land and Resources starting in October 2003.

Xu Shaoshi held various positions including Director of the General Office of the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, Director of the First Bureau of the General Office of the State Council, and Deputy Secretary-General of the State Council. He became Minister and Party Secretary of the Ministry of Land and Resources in April 2007.

In March 2013, Xu Shaoshi was appointed Director and Party Secretary of the National Development and Reform Commission, with Jiang Daming succeeding him as Minister and Party Secretary of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Jiang Daming had worked in the Heilongjiang Production and Construction Corps and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, later serving as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, Minister of the Organization Department, Deputy Secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, and Mayor of Jinan, among other positions.

According to the China Land and Resources News, on May 31, 2017, then-Deputy Minister of the Central Organization Department Deng Shiming announced a central decision at the Ministry of Land and Resources, appointing Comrade Sun Shaocheng as the Party Secretary of the Ministry of Land and Resources and relieving Comrade Jiang Daming of his duties as Party Secretary, transitioning him to a Party Group member.

Jiang Daming stated, “In accordance with the central requirements, after the separation of the Minister and Party Secretary roles, I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as the primary responsible person, fully support Comrade Sun Shaocheng in presiding over the work of the Party Group, and earnestly implement the work rules of the Party Group, ensuring that major issues in the Ministry are collectively discussed and decided by the Party Group.”

From March 2018 to March 2023, Jiang Daming served as a Standing Committee Member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Vice Chairman of the Population, Resources, and Environment Committee. He currently serves as an Executive Director of the China Economic and Social Council.

Sun Shaocheng, born in 1960, previously held positions such as Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs, Deputy Governor of Shandong Province, and various roles in the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee. He became Party Secretary of the Ministry of Land and Resources in May 2017 and later served as Deputy Minister. In March of the following year, with the establishment of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, Sun Shaocheng transitioned to serve as the Minister and Party Secretary of that Ministry. In April 2022, he was appointed as the Party Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a position he holds to this day.