The long road to a governor's post
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Resumes of 31 provincial governors show that on average they started their careers when they were just under 20 years old and became governors after 25 years working experience, the Jinan Daily reported Feb 2.
China's 31 provincial governors joined the Communist Party at the average age of 23 and became active in politics at the age of 29. They took up their present positions after 25 years working experience. Around a third took the college entrance examination in 1977, the year it was reinstated after being suspended during the Cultural Revolution.
Of the 31 governors, two were born in the 1960s: 48 year-old Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Zhou Qiang, governor of Hunan Province. 22 - 70% of the total - were born in the 1950s, and seven were born in the 1940s. The four eldest – all aged 63 – are Huang Xiaojing of Fujian, Lu Zushan of Zhejiang, Huang Huahua of Guangdong, and Lin Shusen of Guizhou.
The average age of the group is 57. They must retire at 65, so they still have nearly a decade in office.
On average the 31 governors began their careers when they were just under 20 years old. Only seven began their working lives in government. Most worked in rural areas or in industry.
Wang Jun, governor of Shanxi Province spent 20 years as a mining technician, becoming director general of the Coal Mining Administration, and finally deputy minister for Coal. But fast-track careers are also possible; Luo Zhijun, governor of Jiangsu Province, entered the political arena when he was just 41.
On average the governors became secretaries of provincial party committees when they were 57.
In December 1977, China restarted college entrance examinations after a 10-year suspension due to the Cultural Revolution. One third of the 31 governors took the examination and it turned out to be a life-changing experience for them.
Among them was Ma Biao, chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, who attended the Central University for Nationalities after working for six years in the steel industry. After graduation he worked in a research institute in Guangxi.
Li Hongzhong, governor of Hubei Province, studied at Jilin University after being sent down to the countryside for three years during the Cultural Revolution. He then took up a post in the Shenyang Municipal Government.
Zhou Qiang, governor of Hunan Province, got a Master's Degree after returning from the countryside and then took up a post in the Policy Research Office. Chen Quanguo, governor of Hebei Province, was admitted by Zhengzhou University after working in a car accessory factory. After 2 years' service in a rural area in Henan he was promoted secretary in the Zhumadian Regional Office. Luo Baoming, studied at Tianjin Normal University and was a member of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League,
All the provincial governors have at least a bachelor's degree and 21 have master's degrees. Huang Xingguo, mayor of Tianjin, has a PhD in Management, Luo Huining, a PhD in Economics; Wang Zhengwei, a PhD in Ethnic Economics. Yuan Chunqing, governor of Shaanxi Province, did post-doctoral research at Peking University and in 2002, published a book Research on Finance Co-growth Theory and Commercial Banks in Cities. Most majored in Chinese, Law, Economics, Philosophy or Management, with only a minority taking Science and Engineering. In the modern era there is a tendency for politicians to study the humanities, management and law as these subjects prepare them for the tasks they will face in office.
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