Former Vice-Mayor of Shanghai Han Zheng was elected yesterday as
the new mayor of this East China metropolis by an overwhelming
majority at the ongoing 12th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.
Han won 842 ballots from a total of 849 congress deputies attending
the election held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.
Gong Xueping was elected new director of the standing committee of
Shanghai Municipal People's Congress. Gong was the former deputy
secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist
Party of China.
Han Zheng, who was born in 1954 in Cixi County of Zhejiang
Province, is the youngest mayor the city has had since 1949.
As
the core of Shanghai's new leadership in the next five years, Han
shoulders a great task to open up a new phase for the city's
economic growth - a leap from the current per capita GDP of
US$4,909 toward US$7,500, and a struggle to build the city into an
international shipping, financial and business center.
The new mayor has already started considering the many tough issues
the city has to face in the coming five years, including how to
ensure that the city's growth benefits the whole country, how to
protect endangered historical buildings during the city's rapid
urban development, and how to create more jobs.
Han told a group discussion during the congress session that he
would work to ensure that the city became "more competitive in all
aspects."
An
MA economics graduate from East China Normal University, Han has
worked with Shanghai Chemical Industry Committee, Shanghai Chemical
Engineering School and Shanghai No.6 Rubber Shoes Factory.
His political career started as secretary of Shanghai Committee of
the Communist Youth League of China. He went on to be administrator
of Luwan District, and then deputy secretary-general of Shanghai
Municipality and director-general of Shanghai Development Planing
Commission, a post he held until February 1998 when he was promoted
to vice-mayor, responsible for the city's urban construction and
management, water resource management, environmental protection,
land and real estate management and transportation.
(China Daily February 21, 2003)