Born in 1960s, 71 newly promoted senior officials at the provincial and ministerial levels are becoming rising stars in China's political arena. They are young and pragmatic, and some will be probably selected as members of China's next administration.

But how were they promoted? Do one-third of them really originate from the Communist Youth League (CYL) as reported in the overseas media? An article published last week by Prof. Liu Junsheng, director of the Institute of Administrative Management under the China University of Political Science and Law, analyzes their various paths to promotion.

Of these officials, just seven are female (and all of these are in deputy posts). Ten come from ethnic minorities, and eleven are members of non-communist parties or have no party affiliation. Five are provincial governors or ministers: Zhou Qiang, governor of Hunan Province; Hu Chunhua, acting governor of Hebei Province; Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region; Sun Zhengcai, agriculture minister; and Zhang Qingwei, director in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND).

The youngest are 45-year-old Hu Chunhua and Sun Zhengcai; Zhang Qingwei and Nur Bekri are 47 and Zhou Qiang is 48.

All 71 senior officials have a higher education background. Nineteen have PhDs and 36 have master's degrees (15 received their postgraduate qualifications from Party Schools); 13 have bachelor degrees and three graduated from junior colleges.

The officials are distributed evenly across China in central and provincial government posts, 15 in central government, the remaining 56 in provincial governments, covering all provinces apart from Gansu.

Six roads to leadership in China

The work background of these officials is varied. Professor Liu's article divides them into six categories based on their previous experience.

In the first category are those who were promoted directly through government organs; officials who were directly enrolled by party or government departments after graduation, and were gradually promoted to leading posts at provincial and ministerial levels. Out of the 71 officials, 25 were promoted in this way.