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 served by members of the standing committees of provincial party committees, in cities such as Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and Sanya, Hainan Province.
According to a report by Hainan Radio and Television Station 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 born in Guangshui, Hubei Province in November 1968, with ancestral roots in Gao’an, Jiangxi, 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 served in Hubei Province, holding positions such as Chairman and Party Secretary of Hubei Broadcasting and Television Information Network Co., Ltd., Secretary and Director of the Provincial Economy and Information Technology Commission, and Secretary and Director of the Provincial Economy and Information Technology Department. In 2020, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Jingmen Municipal Party Committee.
In 2022, Wang Qiyang became a member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and the Secretary of the Xiangyang Municipal Party Committee.
Earlier, Zhou Hongbo, formerly a member of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Sanya Municipal Party Committee, was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee.
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 Provincial Party Committees’ Standing Committees?
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 committees’ standing committees, many of whom are also deputy secretaries of the provincial party committees.
The municipal party secretaries of the five special administrative regions are: Meng Fanli, Deputy Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee; Cui Yonghui, Member of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Secretary of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee; Peng Jiaxue, Member of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Secretary of the Ningbo Municipal Party Committee; Xiong Maoping, Member of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Secretary of the Dalian Municipal Party Committee; and Zeng Zanrong, Member of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Secretary of the Qingdao Municipal Party Committee.
Research articles point out that sub-provincial cities in China’s urban system have “flat” political and economic structures, characterized by large economies, small jurisdictions, high levels of urbanization, and high-level party and government officials. They are important growth poles in various regional economic sectors in China.
Beyond the aforementioned “27+5” cities, there are also some prefecture-level cities nationwide 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 red revolutionary base areas.
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 county-level city were abolished, and the 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 Secretary of the Xigaze Municipal Party Committee.
Famous red cities such as Yan’an and Zunyi hold special political status and symbolic significance, and their top party leaders are usually “high-level appointments.” For instance, Hao Huijie is a member of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Secretary of the Yan’an Municipal Party Committee; Li Rui is a member of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee and Secretary of the Zunyi Municipal Party Committee.
During certain special periods, some prefecture-level city party secretaries may receive “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 Secretary of the Bijie Municipal Party Committee, marking the first “high-level appointment” of a Bijie Municipal Party Secretary to the provincial party committee’s standing committee.
Media commented at that time that Wu Qiang, who had previously worked in Bijie, was appointed as the Secretary of the Bijie Municipal Party Committee concurrently served by a member of the provincial party committee’s standing committee, which was clearly a further strengthening of the leadership of the Bijie Municipal Party Committee. 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-controlled municipalities and national 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 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 working committee 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 working committee secretary and director of the management committee of the Xiong’an New Area.
