Personnel News | Which Municipal Party Committee Secretaries Are Concurrently Served as Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee Members

Recently, there have been coordinated adjustments in the appointments of municipal party secretaries concurrently serving as members of the standing committee of the provincial party committees in cities such as Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and Sanya, Hainan Province.

According to a report by Hainan Radio and Television Group on December 3, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China recently approved the appointment of Wang Qiyang as a member and standing committee member of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee. The Hainan Provincial Party Committee subsequently decided to appoint Wang Qiyang as a member, standing committee member, and secretary of the Sanya Municipal Party Committee.

Wang Qiyang, a male of Han ethnicity, was born in Guangshui, Hubei Province, in November 1968, with ancestral roots in Gao’an, Jiangxi Province. He holds a Ph.D. in Management from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law and an MBA from the University of Hull in the UK. He joined the workforce in July 1991 and became a member of the Communist Party of China in January 1991.

Wang Qiyang has long worked in Hubei Province, serving in various positions such as Chairman and Party Secretary of Hubei Broadcasting and Television Information Network Co., Ltd., Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Provincial Economy and Information Technology Commission, and Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Provincial Economy and Information Technology Department. In 2020, he was appointed as the Party Secretary of Jingmen City.

In 2022, Wang Qiyang became a member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and the Party Secretary of Xiangyang City.

Earlier, Zhou Hongbo, the former member of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Party Secretary of Sanya City, was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Party Secretary of Nanjing City.

Both Xiangyang and Sanya are among the few prefecture-level cities in recent years where the municipal party secretary is concurrently served by a member of the provincial party committee’s standing committee.

Which municipal party secretaries are concurrently served by members of the provincial party committee’s standing committee?

Currently, the municipal party secretaries of China’s 27 provincial capitals (including 10 sub-provincial cities: Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Chengdu, Xi’an, Hangzhou, Jinan, Harbin, Shenyang, and Changchun) and five special administrative regions (Shenzhen, Xiamen, Ningbo, Qingdao, and Dalian) are all concurrently served by members of the provincial party committee’s standing committee, many of whom are also deputy secretaries of the provincial party committee.

The municipal party secretaries of the five special administrative regions are: Meng Fanli, Deputy Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Party Secretary of Shenzhen; Cui Yonghui, Member of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Party Secretary of Xiamen; Peng Jiaxue, Member of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Party Secretary of Ningbo; Xiong Maoping, Member of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Party Secretary of Dalian; and Zeng Zanrong, Member of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Party Secretary of Qingdao.

Research articles point out that in China’s urban system, sub-provincial cities have a “flattened” political and economic structure, characterized by a large economic scale, small jurisdictional area, high urbanization level, and high-level government officials. They are important growth poles in various regional economic sectors in China.

Besides the aforementioned “27+5” cities, there are currently some prefecture-level cities across the country where the municipal party secretary is concurrently served by a member of the provincial party committee’s standing committee. These cities typically have significant economic importance or are historic revolutionary bases.

For example, in Suzhou, the strongest prefecture-level city in China, the municipal party secretary Liu Xiaotao is also a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee; in Luoyang, the second-largest city in Henan Province, the municipal party secretary Jiang Ling is also a member of the Henan Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee; and in Baotou, the second-largest city in Inner Mongolia, the municipal party secretary Ding Xiufeng is a member of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Party Committee’s Standing Committee.

Sanya, where Wang Qiyang has taken up a new position, is also a major tourism and economic city in Hainan Province.

Another example is Xigaze, located in the southwestern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and serving as a regional sub-center in Tibet. In 2014, the Xigaze Prefecture and its county-level city were abolished, and a prefecture-level city of Xigaze was established. Dawa Tsering, a member of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee’s Standing Committee, concurrently serves as the Party Secretary of Xigaze City.

Famous red cities such as Yan’an and Zunyi hold special political status and symbolic significance, and their top party officials are usually “high-level appointments.” For instance, Hao Huijie is a member of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Party Secretary of Yan’an; Li Rui is a member of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Party Secretary of Zunyi.

During certain special periods, some prefecture-level cities may have their municipal party secretaries as “high-level appointments.” In 2020, China achieved a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, but many follow-up tasks remained. On August 16, 2021, Wu Qiang, then a member of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Secretary-General, was appointed as the Party Secretary of Bijie City, marking the first time that a member of the provincial party committee’s standing committee concurrently served as the Party Secretary of Bijie.

Media commentary at that time noted that Wu Qiang, who had previously worked in Bijie, was appointed as the Party Secretary of Bijie City concurrently with his position as a member of the provincial party committee’s standing committee, which was clearly a reinforcement of Bijie’s municipal party leadership. As a member of the provincial party committee’s standing committee, he could mobilize considerable policy resources to inject momentum into Bijie’s development.

In addition, the personnel arrangements for the top leaders of the party committees (or party working committees) of districts under direct-administered municipalities and national-level new areas undertaking important missions may also follow the aforementioned situation.

For example, in Tianjin Binhai New Area, the first free-trade pilot zone, national comprehensive reform pilot zone, and national independent innovation demonstration zone in the north, the district party secretary is concurrently served by Lian Maojun, a member of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee’s Standing Committee.

In the Xiong’an New Area, known as a “millennium plan and national priority,” the position of party secretary and director of the management committee has been concurrently served by Zhang Guohua, a member of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee, since December 2020. In January 2024, Zhang Guohua was elected as the Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Political Consultative Conference, while continuing to serve as a member of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and the party secretary and director of the management committee of the Xiong’an New Area.