Liu Qibao was elected secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Sunday.

Liu, 54, was elected to the post at the first plenary session of the ninth CPC Guangxi regional committee.

A native of Susong County, east China's Anhui Province, Liu joined the CPC in 1971 and graduated from the Anhui Normal University in 1974. He also holds a master degree in economics obtained from his on-the-job postgraduate study at the School of Economics of Jilin University in northeast China in 1993.

Liu had worked as vice editor-in-chief of the governmental mouthpiece People's Daily and deputy secretary-general of the State Council before moving to Guangxi in 2000. He was promoted from the regional Party committee's vice chair to the chief post in June 2006 by the CPC Central Committee.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2006)