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 born in Guangshui, Hubei Province in November 1968, holds a doctoral degree 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 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 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 secretary of the Jingmen Municipal Party Committee. In 2022, he became a member of the Hubei Provincial Party Standing Committee and secretary of the Xiangyang Municipal Party Committee.

Earlier, Zhou Hongbo, formerly a member of the Hainan Provincial Party Standing Committee and secretary of the Sanya Municipal Party Committee, was appointed a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Standing 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 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 (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 provincial party standing committee members, 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 Standing Committee and secretary of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee; Peng Jiaxue, member of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Standing Committee and secretary of the Ningbo Municipal Party Committee; Xiong Maoping, member of the Liaoning Provincial Party Standing Committee and secretary of the Dalian Municipal Party Committee; and Zeng Zanrong, member of the Shandong Provincial Party Standing Committee and secretary of the Qingdao Municipal Party Committee.

Research articles point out that sub-provincial cities in China’s urban system have a “flattened” political and economic structure, characterized by large economies, small jurisdictions, high levels of urbanization, and high-level political appointments. They are important growth poles in various regional economic blocks in China.

Beyond the aforementioned “27+5” cities, there are also some prefecture-level cities across the country where the municipal party secretary is concurrently served by a provincial party standing committee member. These cities typically have significant economic importance or are historical 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 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 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 Standing Committee.

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

Similarly, Dawa Tsering, a member of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Standing Committee, concurrently serves as the secretary of the Xigaze Municipal Party Committee. Xigaze, located in the southwestern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is 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.

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

During certain special periods, the municipal party secretaries of some prefecture-level cities may receive “high-level appointments.” In 2020, China achieved a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, but there was still much follow-up work to be done. On August 16, 2021, Wu Qiang, then a member of the Guizhou Provincial Party Standing Committee and secretary-general, was appointed secretary of the Bijie Municipal Party Committee, marking the first time that the position was concurrently served by a provincial party standing committee member.

Media commentary at that time noted that Wu Qiang, who had previously worked in Bijie, was appointed to concurrently serve as the secretary of the Bijie Municipal Party Committee by the provincial party standing committee, 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 Bijie’s development.

In addition, the personnel arrangements for the “first 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 Standing Committee.

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