The new vice-chairpersons of the 11th NPC Standing Committee are generally younger and better educated than their predecessors.

Thirteen vice-chairpersons were elected on Saturday at the ongoing session of the 11th NPC. Wang Zhaoguo, Lu Yongxiang, Uyunqimg and Han Qide were reelected as vice-chairpersons, while Hua Jianmin, Chen Zhili, Zhou Tienong, Li Jianguo, Ismail Tiliwaldi, Jiang Shusheng, Chen Changzhi, Yan Junqi and Sang Guowei are new faces.

The number of the newly elected vice-chairpersons is two less than the 15 vice-chairpersons of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, echoing the country's overall strategy to cut bureaucracy and boost efficiency.

Biographies also show that 12 of the 13 new vice-chairpersons were born in the 1940s, while on the previous NPC Standing Committee, only four were in this age category, with the rest born in the 1930s.

In addition, the average age of the new vice-chairpersons stands at 65.5, about one year younger than that of their predecessors when they were elected five years ago.

Analysts said the broad reshuffle of leaders of non-communist parties is the major reason for the younger team of vice-chairpersons.

Among the 13 new vice-chairpersons, six are chairpersons of the country's non-Communist parties, including the Revolutionary Committee of Chinese Kuomintang, the China Democratic League and the China Association for Promoting Democracy.

And the chairpersons of the parties were just elected late last year, with younger leaders coming to the fore.

"This election (of democratic party leaders) has the nature of a generation shift. We who were elected 10 years ago are stepping down and offering the posts to younger and more energetic leaders," He Luli, former chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang and vice-chairwoman of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, said earlier.

The newly elected vice-chairpersons are also better educated and more than half of them have overseas academic experience.

Biographies show that seven out of the 13 newly elected vice-chairpersons have postgraduate degrees or doctorates. Only five of the 15 vice-chairpersons of the 10th NPC Standing Committee had similar qualifications.

Moreover, only five of the 15 former vice-chairpersons had studied abroad, while seven of the 13 in the new leadership have done so.

For example, newly elected vice-chairwoman Chen Zhili was a visiting scholar at Pennsylvania State University in the United States from 1980 to 1982, and vice-chairman Jiang Shusheng has been a visiting scholar in both the United Kingdom and Italy.

Another five vice-chairpersons also have learning experience in the US, UK, Denmark or Germany.

(China Daily March 17, 2008)