Ruan Chengfa (; born 10 October 1957) is a Chinese politician who served as

Party Secretary In politics, a party secretary is a senior official within a political party with responsibility for the organizational and daily political work. In most parties, the party secretary is second in rank to the party leader (or party chairman). In s ...

and

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, and before that, Communist Party Secretary of

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

, mayor of

Huangshi Huangshi ( zh, s= , t= , p=Huángshí), alternatively romanized as Hwangshih, is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 2,469,079 inhabitants at the 2020 census; 1,567,108 of whom ...

, head of the General Office of the Hubei Provincial Government, vice governor of Hubei, and party chief of Xiangfan. Ruan is an alternate of the

18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 18th National Congress on 15 November 2012, and sat in plenary sessions until the communing of the 19th National Congress in 2017. It was formally proceeded by the 17t ...

and a member of the

19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 19th National Congress in 2017, and sat until the next National Congress was convened in 2022. It formally succeeded the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Commun ...

Early life and education

Ruan was born in

. He began working in 1979 as a textiles worker in a local clothing factory. He joined the Communist Party in 1982. He studied international communism at the Central China Normal University and also has a doctorate in law. In 1994, he took charge of the Wuhan securities commission. In September 1995, he became party chief of

Wuchang District Wuchang is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the right (southeastern) bank of the Yan ...

. In December 1997, he was named secretary-general of the Wuhan party committee. In March 1998, the mayor of

; in November 2011, the secretary-general of the Hubei provincial government; in December 2002, the party chief of Xiangfan; in September 2004, the Vice-Governor of Hubei. He was named mayor of Wuhan in January 2008. In January 2011, he was promoted to party chief of Wuhan; as party boss of the provincial capital, he also sat on the Hubei

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 ...

Career in Wuhan

After Ruan ascended to leading positions in

, abundant construction activity took place all over the city. Some 5,500 construction sites were operating simultaneously. Some Wuhan locals named him "Manchengwa" (), a play on his name that literally meant "digs all over town." To this, Ruan responded, "I'm not scared of people calling me 'Manchengwa'. If we're not doing construction, we are doing a disservice to the city." The intense construction work was blamed for extensive flooding after heavy rain in June 2011. Ruan was credited with explosive infrastructure growth, such as the construction of the Second Ring Road of Wuhan, the Baishazhou Avenue, and the

Wuhan Metro Wuhan Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China. Owned and operated by Wuhan Metro Group Co., Ltd., the network now includes 12 lines, 312 stations, and 518 kilometres of track length. With 1.35 billion annual passe ...

Line 8. The projects significantly reduced commute times and eased congestion across the city. However, the endless construction also burdened the city's financial system. In 2011, total planned investment amounted to over 70 billion yuan (~$10 billion). To recoup the massive construction costs, the city issued debt through special financial vehicles, backed up by municipal land as collateral, which typically did not show up on the city's balance sheet (although this practice was common in other Chinese cities as well, at the time), including

perpetual bond A perpetual bond, also known colloquially as a perpetual or perp, is a bond with no maturity date, therefore allowing it to be treated as equity, not as debt. Issuers pay coupons on perpetual bonds forever, and they do not have to redeem the pri ...

Career in Yunnan

Having been born in Wuhan and having spent his entire career in his home province, it seemed like Ruan's career was headed to an unceremonious close as he approached the mandatory retirement age for sub-provincial level officials of 60. However, in December 2016, Ruan suddenly transferred to Yunnan province. On December 13, Ruan was appointed as the Governor of Yunnan. On December 28, at the dedication ceremony of the Shanghai–Kunming High-Speed Railway in Kunming, Ruan mispronounced the abbreviation of the province ''Zhen'' instead of ''Dian'' while reading off of a script, prompting mockery online, including comments that a doctorate in law should know better. In November 2020, Ruan was appointed as the CCP Secretary of Yunnan.

Central government

On 23 October 2021, he was appointed vice chairperson of the National People's Congress Social Development Affairs Committee.

References

External links

Official biography of Ruan Chengfa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruan, Chengfa 1957 births Living people 21st-century mayors of places in China Politicians from Wuhan Wuhan University alumni Central China Normal University alumni Mayors of places in China Political office-holders in Hubei Mayors of Wuhan Governors of Yunnan People's Republic of China politicians from Hubei Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hubei Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Alternates of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party