Xia Baolong (; born 2 December 1952) is a Chinese politician. Originally from

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, Xia began his political career in the Communist Youth League. He served as the vice mayor of Tianjin,

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 ...

and

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 ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

province. Between 2018 and 2023, he served as a vice chairman of the 13th

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

(CPPCC), being its secretary general from 2018 to 2020. Xia was appointed director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in February 2020.

Early life

Xia Baolong was born in

. In his youth, Xia was an elementary and high school teacher in Hebei and Tianjin, and a grassroots level official of the Communist Youth League. He 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 November 1973. He received a degree in Chinese from Hexi District Workers' University (), an adult-education college, in 1980. Later he rose to the positions of Party Secretary and governor of Hexi District, and then Vice Mayor of Tianjin. Between 1999 and 2003 he studied political economics at

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

. He has a doctoral degree in Economics.

Political career

Xia Baolong was an alternate of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Central Committees, and a full member of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

Zhejiang

In November 2003, Xia was transferred to

to become a

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 depu ...

of the province. Xia served under then-Zhejiang Party Secretary

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

. In August 2011, he became the acting governor of Zhejiang, succeeding Lü Zushan, and was officially elected as governor in January 2012. On 18 December 2012, he was promoted to Party Secretary of Zhejiang, the top political office of the province. Xia is alleged to have issued orders for the removal of thousands of crosses from churches, including the Sanjiang Church in the

Wenzhou Wenzhou; Chinese postal romanization, historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in China's Zhejiang province. Wenzhou is located at the extreme southeast of Zhejiang, bordering Lishui, Zhejiang, Lishui to the west, Taizhou, Zheji ...

area. Wenzhou is considered a centre of Christianity in China. Under Xia, Zhejiang hosted the 2016 G20 Summit in Hangzhou. He also attempted to attract Zhejiang businesspeople from abroad. In April 2017 he became a member of the National People's Congress Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee.

Hong Kong

On 13 February 2020, Xia was appointed director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. In August 2020, Xia and ten other officials were sanctioned by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

under Executive Order 13936 by

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. ...

for undermining Hong Kong's autonomy. On October 14, 2020, the United States Department of State released a report on 10 individuals who materially contributed to the failure of the China to meet its obligations under the Sino–British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong's Basic Law. Xia was on the list. In February 2021, Xia said that only "patriots" could govern Hong Kong, and that positions in the executive, legislature and judiciary must follow the order. Xia also claimed that "In terms of those rioters who are anti-China and who instigate riots with extremely notorious acts, for example,

Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...

, Benny Tai and Joshua Wong, they are not only prohibited from interfering in any public power of the HKSAR, they also need to be punished severely in accordance with the law." Additionally, Xia said that principle of "patriots" governing Hong Kong should also extend towards the education system. In December 2021, Xia said that the people of Hong Kong would soon get "real" democracy under the new electoral system, where only "patriots" are allowed to serve. In April 2023, Xia said that "There are many channels and ways to express interests and demands, they are diverse and a protest is not the only way to express interests and demands." In April 2025, Xia delivered a video speech on the 10th National Security Education Day in Hong Kong, where he said the "US isn’t after our tariffs — it is after our very survival" and urged Hong Kong to "stand firmly with the motherland and on the right side of history".

References