Chen Min'er (; born 29 September 1960) is a Chinese politician and a member of the

Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, formally known as the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and known as the Central Bureau before 1927, is the decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ...

who is serving as the

Communist Party Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

. From 2017 to 2022, he served as the Communist Party Secretary of

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

and a member of the

19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party The 19th Central Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party () was elected by the 1st Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on 25 October 2017, shortly following the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Co ...

. Chen spent most of his career in his native

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

province, serving as head of the provincial department of media, and Vice Governor of Zhejiang. In 2013, he was transferred to

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

as governor, and in 2015 promoted to provincial Communist Party Secretary. Chen was catapulted to prominence in 2017 in the aftermath of the ouster of Chongqing party secretary Sun Zhengcai, a move that made him well-positioned for further elevation.

Career

Zhejiang

Chen was born in September 1960 in

Zhuji Zhuji () is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shaoxing, in north-central Zhejiang province, China, located about south of Hangzhou. It has with a population of 1,218,072 inhabitants at the 2020 census e ...

, Zhejiang. From 1978 to 1981 Chen Min'er studied Chinese at Shaoxing Teacher's College (later merged into

Shaoxing University Shaoxing University () is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cit ...

) in Zhejiang. After college he worked in the Shaoxing government, rising through the ranks to become the county governor of Shaoxing County in 1991, and

(the top position in the county) in 1994. In 1997 Chen was transferred to the neighbouring city of

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

to become its Vice Mayor. In 1999 he was promoted to deputy party secretary Ningbo. In December 1999 Chen was appointed the chief editor of ''Zhejiang Daily'', the official government newspaper of Zhejiang province, and in 2001 he became the Propaganda Chief of the Zhejiang Communist Party organization. In June 2002, Chen, then 42, earned a seat on the provincial

Party Standing Committee Members of the standing committees of the Chinese Communist Party provincial-level committees, commonly referred to as ''Shengwei Changwei'' (), make up the top ranks of the provincial-level organizations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I ...

. From May 2007 to January 2012 he was a Vice Governor of Zhejiang. During this period he worked under Zhejiang party secretary

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

Guizhou

In January 2012, Chen was transferred to the southwestern interior province of

to become its Deputy Party Secretary, and in December he was appointed Acting Governor of Guizhou, succeeding

Zhao Kezhi Zhao Kezhi (; born 28 December 1953) is a Chinese politician who currently serves as a State Councilor of the People’s Republic of China and the former Minister and Party Committee Secretary of the Ministry of Public Security, with the top p ...

, who had been promoted to Communist Party Secretary. In January 2013 he was officially confirmed as governor by the Guizhou Provincial Congress. In July 2015, Chen was promoted to Party Secretary of Guizhou, becoming only the fourth provincial party-level secretary born after the year 1960 (after

Hu Chunhua Hu Chunhua (; born 1 April 1963) is a Chinese politician, a former member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and a Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China in Premier Li Keqiang's Cabinet. He worked in Tibet for much of ...

Zhou Qiang Zhou Qiang (; born 25 April 1960) is a Chinese politician who is the current Chief Justice and President of the Supreme People's Court of China. Previously, he served as the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party's Hunan committee, the effect ...

, and Sun Zhengcai). Due to the Communist Party's rigid age-based promotion system, it led to speculation that Chen may be destined for higher office. After taking charge as party secretary, Chen enthusiastically advanced the policies of CCP General secretary Xi Jinping, such as the "

Three Stricts and Three Honests The Three Stricts, Three Honests () is an internal education campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) advanced by General Secretary of the CCP, Xi Jinping, in 2014, aimed at improving the ethical conduct of party officials and "improving ...

" education campaign. Chen also led an initiative to set up formal discussions (''yuetan'') over alleged wrongdoing by officials in the province, personally taking charge of the most serious cases. In an interview with the media organs of the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest internal control institution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), tasked with enforcing internal rules and regulations and combating corruption and malfeasance in the par ...

, Chen repeated the slogan "power must be restricted in the cage of institutions, and power should be exercised in sunshine," (i.e., transparently and openly). Chen set up over 1,400 working committees in neighbourhoods and rural areas in the province to oversee complaints over routine government services. In Guizhou, Chen instituted a program of poverty reduction and invested heavily in making Guizhou a center of innovation for

big data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...

Chongqing

In July 2017, Chen was appointed as the Communist Party Secretary of

municipality, replacing Sun Zhengcai. As Chen assumed leadership over one of the four

direct-controlled municipalities A direct-controlled municipality is the highest level classification for cities used by unitary states, with status equal to that of the provinces in the respective countries. A direct-controlled municipality is similar to, but not the same as, a ...

, the move assured him a seat in the

CCP Politburo The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, formally known as the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and known as the Central Bureau before 1927, is the decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ...

(decision-making body) at the 19th CCP Party Congress. Chen was an alternate member of the 17th Central Committee and a full member of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Chen has been portrayed by overseas media as an associate of CCP leader Xi Jinping, and has been named as part of the "

New Zhijiang Army The New Zhijiang Army (), also known as the Xi Jinping faction (), is a term used by observers to represent political figures in the Chinese Communist Party who are closely related to CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, most prominently those who ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Min'er Living people 1960 births Governors of Guizhou Political office-holders in Zhejiang Chinese Communist Party politicians from Zhejiang People's Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang Politicians from Shaoxing Members of the 20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Alternate members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party