Hebei governor Zhang Qingwei is greying slightly, but unlike most mainland leaders he does not dye his hair.
Barely 51 and formerly a top engineer and rocket scientist, he is a committed advocate of research and development.
'Vice-President Xi Jinping visited the United States recently and we [Hebei ] sent a business and trade delegation to go with him,' Zhang said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress. 'A company from Langfang offered to build a new energy industrial base in the US.'
Zhang was born in Jilin city, Jilin, in 1961, and settled in Tangshan, Hebei, with his family.
At the age of 17, he enrolled at Northwestern Polytechnical University to study aircraft design.
Zhang entered the 603rd Aircraft Design Institute four years later and in less than three years became the leader of the engineering team developing the FBC-1, a twin-engined fighter-bomber still in service with the People's Liberation Army.