Xi Jinping's former chief of staff in Zhejiang who rose through the Shanghai party secretaryship to become premier in 2023

Born in Rui'an, Zhejiang, in 1959, he graduated from the Ningbo branch of Zhejiang Agricultural University and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1983, starting out in the Communist Youth League in Rui'an. After leading Yongkang and Wenzhou, from 2004 he was secretary-general of the Zhejiang party committee under Xi Jinping. As governor of Zhejiang from 2012 to 2016 he led reforms cutting administrative approvals, and after Jiangsu he became a Politburo member and party secretary of Shanghai in 2017, pursuing pro-business policies and directing the response to COVID-19. He rose to second rank on the Politburo Standing Committee in 2022 and succeeded Li Keqiang as premier in March 2023. He is the first premier since Zhou Enlai not to have served as vice-premier, and is regarded as a core member of Xi's "New Zhijiang Army".

Activities and affiliations

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