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 provincial party standing committee members 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 doctoral degree in management from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, where he studied as an in-service doctoral candidate, 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 including 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 party secretary of Jingmen City.

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

Earlier, Zhou Hongbo, the former standing committee member of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and party secretary of Sanya City, was appointed as a standing committee member 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 provincial party standing committee member.

Which municipal party secretaries are concurrently served by provincial party standing committee members?

Currently, the municipal party secretaries of China’s 27 provincial capitals and municipalities directly under the central government (including 10 sub-provincial cities: Guangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Chengdu, Xi’an, Hangzhou, Jinan, Harbin, Shenyang, and Changchun) as well as 5 cities with independent planning status (Shenzhen, Xiamen, Ningbo, Qingdao, and Dalian) are all concurrently served by provincial party standing committee members, many of whom are also deputy secretaries of the provincial party committees.

Among them, the municipal party secretaries of the five cities with independent planning status are: Meng Fanli, deputy secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and party secretary of Shenzhen; Cui Yonghui, standing committee member of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee and party secretary of Xiamen; Peng Jiaxue, standing committee member of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and party secretary of Ningbo; Xiong Maoping, standing committee member of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and party secretary of Dalian; and Zeng Zanrong, standing committee member of the Shandong Provincial Party 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 large economies, small jurisdictions, high levels of urbanization, and high-level party and government officials. They are all important growth poles in various regional economic sectors in China.

Beyond the aforementioned “27+5” cities, there are currently some prefecture-level cities nationwide where the municipal party secretary is concurrently served by a provincial party standing committee member. These prefecture-level cities generally have characteristics such as being economic hubs or red revolutionary base areas.

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

Sanya, where Wang Qiyang has taken up a new position, is also a major tourist 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 Ciren, a standing committee member of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee, concurrently serves as the municipal party secretary of Xigaze.

Famous red cities such as Yan’an and Zunyi hold special political status and symbolic significance, and their party committee leaders are usually “highly appointed”. For instance, Hao Huijie is a standing committee member of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and party secretary of Yan’an; Li Rui is a standing committee member of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee and party secretary of Zunyi.

During certain special periods, the municipal party secretaries of some prefecture-level cities may be “highly appointed”. In 2020, China achieved a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, but many follow-up tasks still needed to be carried out. On August 16, 2021, Wu Qiang, then a standing committee member and secretary-general of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, was appointed as the party secretary of Bijie City, marking the first time that the position of Bijie’s municipal party secretary was “highly appointed” by a provincial party standing committee member.

Media commented at that time that Wu Qiang, who had previously worked in Bijie City, was appointed as the municipal party secretary concurrently served by a provincial party standing committee member, which was clearly a further strengthening of the leadership of the Bijie Municipal Party Committee. As a member of the provincial party standing committee, he could mobilize considerable policy resources to inject momentum into the development of Bijie.

In addition, the personnel arrangements for the “first leaders” of the party committees (party working committees) of districts under directly-administered 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 standing committee member of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee.

In Xiong’an New Area, known as a “millennium-plan and national priority,” the secretary and director of the party working committee and management committee have been concurrently served by Zhang Guohua, a standing committee member of the Hebei Provincial Party 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 standing committee member of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the secretary and director of the Xiong’an New Area Party Working Committee and Management Committee.