Intensive Adjustments to Main Officials in Jiangsu District and County: Kunshan First to Welcome a Female Secretary, Three “New Faces” Born in the 1980s

Recently, there has been a round of intense adjustments to the political leadership of several districts and counties in Jiangsu. According to a report from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn), officials in Kunshan, Changshu, Xiangcheng District of Suzhou, Tian宁District and Zhonglou District of Changzhou, as well as Pizhou in Xuzhou, have all undergone changes. Notably, the top leaders of Kunshan and Pizhou have both been replaced.

It is worth mentioning that Kunshan, known as the “strongest county-level city” in China, has its first female secretary in its 35-year history, Chen Liyan. Born in August 1978, Chen has served as the mayor of Kunshan for nearly four years before being appointed as the secretary of Kunshan Municipal Committee and the secretary of the Party Working Committee of Kunshan Economic and Technological Development Zone. Chen has long worked in Suzhou and has held various positions including the director of Propaganda Department of Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and the vice president of Women’s Federation of Suzhou. She arrived in Kunshan in 2016 and served as a member of the Standing Committee of Kunshan Municipal Committee, secretary of the United Front Work Department, and secretary of the Organization Department, as well as the secretary of Party Working Committee of Huaqiao Economic Development Zone. In December 2020, Chen was appointed as the deputy secretary of Kunshan Municipal Committee and acting mayor, and became mayor in January of the following year.

On the same day, the 25th meeting of the 18th People’s Congress Standing Committee of Kunshan decided to accept Chen Liyan’s resignation as mayor of Kunshan People’s Government and appointed Fan Jianqing as deputy mayor and acting mayor of Kunshan People’s Government. The public profile shows that Fan Jianqing is a male, Han nationality, born in September 1975, with a master’s degree. He has worked in Changshu for a long time before being transferred to Suzhou for various positions including the deputy director of the Development and Reform Commission and the secretary of the municipal government. Since June 2024, he has served as the director and secretary of the Songjiang Bureau in Suzhou City for a short period before his recent appointment as secretary.

Earlier, Zhou Wei who previously served as a member of the Standing Committee of Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and secretary of Kunshan Municipal Committee had taken up the position as acting mayor of Changzhou City.

In addition to Kunshan, Suzhou also witnessed adjustments in other districts and counties such as Changshu and Xiangcheng. Changshu has long ranked fourth in China’s top hundred counties and its GDP reached 2800.16 billion yuan in 2023. On December 28th, Changshu’s 16th People’s Congress Standing Committee decided to accept Qin Meng’s resignation as mayor and appointed Zhang Wei as deputy mayor and acting mayor. Zhang Wei is another newly appointed official who has held several key positions in cities like Suzhou and Wuxi before taking up this new role in Changshu. Meanwhile, with Zhang Wei’s appointment as district head of Xiangcheng government, it followed adjustments in Xiangcheng government leadership as well.

In Jiangsu’s district and county leadership adjustments this round also saw attention on three “post-80s” officials who have been promoted to key positions such as district committee secretaries or district heads. Zhang Kaiqi who recently became secretary of the Party Committee of Tian宁 District received notice from the Provincial Party Committee to assume this position while resigning from his previous position as head of Tian宁 District government district; Li Desen who was promoted to a position in Zhonglou District government district leadership team after being nominated as a candidate for head district; and Xia Youfeng who was appointed deputy mayor and acting mayor of Pizhou City after holding several leadership positions in Xuzhou City government district. Finally it is noteworthy that Wang Wei who previously served as mayor of Pizhou was appointed as deputy mayor for a new city government district within Taizhou City on December 16th after his adjustment within Xuzhou government district leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team leadership team department director General position due to new talent nurturing and management methods where you have different departmental talents doing various jobs for departments outside city boundary with respect to administrative hierarchy as well as tasks coordination efforts where parties also embrace responsibilities separately or collect responsibilities by formation working team before formation more departments coordination Attract talents participation increase productivity effectiveness especially performance oriented evaluation can enhance departments ability especially adaptability after experiencing industrial reform coordination effort process as far apart divisions reach greater potential even where managers struggle within existing boundaries competing simultaneously advancing roles independently moving up to further positions simultaneously making progress together making progress together making progress together making progress independently making progress independently making progress making progress independently while maintaining integrity