Ma Guoqiang (; born November 1963) is a Chinese politician, engineer, and business executive. He had served as

Deputy Communist Party Secretary In modern Chinese politics, a Deputy Party Committee Secretary (; also translated as Deputy Party Secretary, deputy party chief, vice party chief) serves as the lieutenant to the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, and thus the deputy ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

province and

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 ...

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

, the capital of Hubei, from 2018 to 2020. Ma previously served as Chairman of

Baowu China Baowu Steel Group Corp., Ltd., commonly known as Baowu, is a state-owned iron and steel company headquartered in the Baosteel Tower in Pudong, Shanghai, China. The company was formed by Baosteel Group absorbing its smaller state-owned pe ...

Group, China's largest steelmaker. He is an alternate member and then a member of the

19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full ...

and was a delegate to the

8th National People's Congress The 8th National People's Congress () was in session from 1993 to 1998. It succeeded the 7th National People's Congress. It held five sessions in this period. Election results Elected state leaders In the 1st Session in 1993, the Congress elected ...

Early life and education

Ma was born in

Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

in November 1963. He is a member of the Hui ethnic group. In September 1980, he entered Huazhong Institute of Technology (now

Huazhong University of Science and Technology The Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST; ) is a public research university located in Guanshan Subdistrict, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As a national key university directly affiliated to the Ministry ...

), majoring in materials management and engineering. In September 1984 he entered the graduate school of Beijing Iron and Steel Institute (now

University of Science and Technology Beijing The University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB; ), formerly known as Beijing Steel and Iron Institute () before 1988, is a national key university in Haidian District, Beijing, China. USTB's metallurgy and materials science programmes ar ...

) and joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

in December 1985. After earning his master's degree in 1986, he was hired by the institute as a faculty member. In September 1991, he was sent to Germany to study at the

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

on a government scholarship. He returned to China in September 1993 and continued to teach at the University of Science and Technology Beijing.

Career at Baowu

Ma began working at

Baosteel China Baowu Steel Group Corp., Ltd., commonly known as Baowu, is a state-owned iron and steel company headquartered in the Baosteel Tower in Pudong, Shanghai, China. The company was formed by Baosteel Group absorbing its smaller state-owned pe ...

of Shanghai in July 1995, and became director of the Planning and Finance Department in 1999. He became deputy general manager of Baosteel in March 2001 and was promoted to general manager in April 2009. In July 2013, he was appointed general manager of

Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation (WISCO) is a Chinese state-owned enterprise. It started to operate in 1958 in Qingshan, Wuhan, Hubei, China. It was administrated by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State ...

. He was elevated to its chairman and party secretary in May 2015. When Baosteel and Wuhan Steel merged to form

Steel in October 2016, he was appointed the chairman and party secretary of the new company, China's largest steelmaker.

Political career

Ma was a delegate to the

(1993–1998). He was elected an alternate member of the

19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

in 2017. In March 2018, he was transferred from Baowu to the provincial government of

and appointed

deputy party secretary In modern Chinese politics, a Deputy Party Committee Secretary (; also translated as Deputy Party Secretary, deputy party chief, vice party chief) serves as the lieutenant to the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, and thus the deput ...

of the province. On 20 July 2018, he received the additional appointment as party secretary of

, the city's top official. The position had been vacant for four months since his predecessor

Chen Yixin Chen Yixin (; born 1 September 1959) is a Chinese Communist Party politician who is the current Minister of State Security and the secretary-general of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. Early life and education Chen was bor ...

was transferred to the national government. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Wuhan residents criticized Ma and his subordinate, mayor

Zhou Xianwang Zhou Xianwang (; born November 1962) is a Chinese people, Chinese politician currently serving as vice chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Previously, he served as Chinese Communis ...

for their slow response to the epidemic. In an interview with China Central Television on 27 January 2020, Zhou admitted that the city government had failed to promptly disclose information about the outbreak and offered to resign, although he added that "it's an infectious disease, and relevant information should be released according to the law. As a local government, we can only disclose information after being authorized." When Ma was interviewed by television host

Bai Yansong Bai Yansong () (born August 20, 1968) is a Chinese news commentator, anchor and journalist for China Central Television (CCTV). He has become one of the most recognizable figures in China, serving as the lead anchor on stories such as the Sydney ...

four days later, he expressed his feelings of "regret, guilt and self-blame". On February 13, 2020, Ma was removed from his posts as

of Hubei and party secretary of Wuhan. He was succeeded by Wang Zhonglin, Communist Party Secretary of Jinan. In August 2021, he became a member of the Party Branch Committee of Hubei People's Congress. On 23 January 2022, he became vice chairman of Hubei People's Congress. In October 2022, he became a member of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Guoqiang 1968 births Living people Engineers from Hebei Huazhong University of Science and Technology alumni Hui people Businesspeople in steel Baowu Chinese chief executives Chinese expatriates in Germany Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hebei Delegates to the 8th National People's Congress People's Republic of China politicians from Hebei Politicians from Baoding RWTH Aachen University alumni University of Science and Technology Beijing alumni Academic staff of the University of Science and Technology Beijing Alternate members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party