Former Vice-Mayor of Shanghai Han Zheng was elected yesterday as the new mayor of this East China metropolis by an overwhelming majority at the ongoing 12th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.

Han won 842 ballots from a total of 849 congress deputies attending the election held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

Gong Xueping was elected new director of the standing committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress. Gong was the former deputy secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Han Zheng, who was born in 1954 in Cixi County of Zhejiang Province, is the youngest mayor the city has had since 1949.

As the core of Shanghai's new leadership in the next five years, Han shoulders a great task to open up a new phase for the city's economic growth - a leap from the current per capita GDP of US$4,909 toward US$7,500, and a struggle to build the city into an international shipping, financial and business center.

The new mayor has already started considering the many tough issues the city has to face in the coming five years, including how to ensure that the city's growth benefits the whole country, how to protect endangered historical buildings during the city's rapid urban development, and how to create more jobs.

Han told a group discussion during the congress session that he would work to ensure that the city became "more competitive in all aspects."

An MA economics graduate from East China Normal University, Han has worked with Shanghai Chemical Industry Committee, Shanghai Chemical Engineering School and Shanghai No.6 Rubber Shoes Factory.

His political career started as secretary of Shanghai Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. He went on to be administrator of Luwan District, and then deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Municipality and director-general of Shanghai Development Planing Commission, a post he held until February 1998 when he was promoted to vice-mayor, responsible for the city's urban construction and management, water resource management, environmental protection, land and real estate management and transportation.

(China Daily February 21, 2003)