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New leader raises hopes of rejuvenation

Updated: 2016-08-25 08:20
By Liu Ce and Wuyong in Shenyang (China Daily)

Wang Menghui, Party chief of Xiamen, Fujian province, was appointed on Tuesday as Party chief of Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province.

Wang, 56, replaced Zeng Wei, who served in the position in Shenyang for eight years.

Wang had been Party chief of Xiamen since 2013. His political career has previously been tied to southern China.

Wang, who was born in Jiangsu province in 1960, graduated from Tsinghua University in 1983. He became a deputy mayor of Panyu, Guangdong province, in 1993.

Since then, he rose through the ranks in Guangdong, becoming the deputy head of the Guangzhou district of Zengcheng, mayor of Shanwe i, Party chief of Yunfu and, in December 2011, vice-governor of Fujian province.

In May 2013, he was appointed as Party chief of Xiamen.

Last year, Xiamen's gross domestic product increased by 7.5 percent to 347 billion yuan ($52 billion), with a per capita GDP of $14,500. The city's revenue also increased by 10.2 percent, breaking the 100 billion yuan benchmark.

Shenyang, as well as the rest of Liaoning province, is under heavy pressure to reform its traditional manufacturing industries. Liaoning was the only province to report a negative GDP growth rate, minus 1 percent, in the first half of this year.

With the phenomenal success in Xiamen, netizens believe Wang may be able to rejuvenate Shenyang's economy. The new Party secretary is also confident.

"Shenyang is a city with a glorious history and rich culture that plays an important role in national strategy," Wang said on Tuesday at a meeting in Shenyang to announce his position.

"I'm proud to work here and also keenly aware of the great responsibility on me," he added. "I will devote all my efforts to my job and, together with all of the power of the city, to promote Shenyang to pioneer in the new round of revitalization of Northeast China."

An economics researcher in Liaoning who requested anonymity said: "Most of the officials in Liaoning are from the province. This is easy to fall into a deadlock. Since Wang is from the more developed and open area, he may bring some new thoughts, which may break the fixed mindsets of the city."

Zhang Zhihao in Beijing and Hu Meidong in Fuzhou contributed to this story.

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