Geng Yanbo (; born November 1958) is a Chinese politician from Heshun, Shanxi, who served as the mayor of

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population o ...

from 2008 to 2013 and the mayor of Taiyuan from 2013 to 2019.

Biography

Geng was born in

Heshun County Heshun County () is a county of east-central Shanxi province, China. It is under the administration of Jinzhong Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of China, bordering ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

, in November 1958. He entered the workforce in August 1976, and joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

in December 1981. In July 1983 he was accepted to

Shanxi University Shanxi University (SXU; ) is a provincial public university in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Shanxi. The university is part of the Double First-Class Construction. History Early 1900 The Shansi Imperial Univer ...

, majoring in Chinese language and literary. He also studied at

Northwest University Northwest University may refer to: *Northwest University (China) in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China *Northwest University (United States) in Kirkland, Washington, US *North-West University in Potchefstroom and Mahikeng, North West Province, South Africa *Nor ...

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business The Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) is a privately-owned graduate school of business located in Beijing, China., CKGSB on the Li Ka Shing Foundation Webpage. The school was established in November 2002 through the financial supp ...

and

Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Party School is a higher education institution that trains Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres. It is located in Haidian, Beijing, close to Summer Palace and Old Summer Palace. The current president is Chen Xi, a former member ...

as a part-time student. In April 1993 he was promoted to become deputy party chief of

Lingshi County Lingshi County () is a county of southwest-central Shanxi province, China. It is under the administration of Jinzhong Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of China, borde ...

, a position he held until March 2000. He became party chief of

Yuci District Yuci District () is a district in Jinzhong, Shanxi, China. Administrative Divisions Subdistricts: * Beiguan Subdistrict (), Jinlun Subdistrict (), Xinhua Subdistrict (), Xinan Subdistrict (), Luxi Subdistrict (), Anning Subdistrict (), Jin ...

in March 2000, and served until February 2004. He was deputy secretary-general of Shanxi Provincial Government in February 2004, and held that office until June 2006. He served as vice-mayor of

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

in June 2006, but having held the position for only a year and a half, when he was transferred to

and appointed deputy party chief and vice-mayor. During his term in office, he was known as "Demolition Geng" after he became mayor in 2008. Geng earned his name from his campaign to demolish much of the city center, relocating 40,000 of its 140,000 households, before rebuilding it in an ancient style, with a view to attracting tourists. In February 2013 he became vice-mayor of Taiyuan, rising to mayor two months later. On January 15, 2019, Geng resigned. The documentary film ''

The Chinese Mayor ''The Chinese Mayor'' (), original title ''Datong'' (大同), is a 2015 documentary that follows Datong mayor Geng Yanbo's efforts to transform one of China's most polluted cities into a cultural destination, in large part by displacing 500,000 r ...

'' covers Geng Yanbo's tenure as mayor of Datong city and his efforts to redevelop the city. It addresses issues including

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

hukou ''Hukou'' ( zh, c=户口, l=household individual) is a system of household registration used in the People's Republic of China. The system itself is more properly called ''huji'' ( zh, c=户籍, l=household origin), and has origins in Histo ...

, and local government debt.

References

1958 births Living people Shanxi University alumni Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party alumni Northwest University (China) alumni Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Shanxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanxi {{China-politician-stub