BO XILAI is very much a hands-on sort of guy. The governor of Liaoning Province puts a hand on your shoulder to direct you to a seat so a meeting can begin. He pokes you in the chest to make a point when speaking at close range. And he grasps your elbow firmly to steer you out of the door when the talking is over.
It is more the style of a savvy United States politician working the precincts than that of a Chinese cadre in charge of economic reform. But if Mr Bo is to help modernise the elderly industries of his northeastern province - in the heart of China's Rust Belt - he needs some major departures from the usually cautious ways of socialist leaders.
Mr Bo believes he is up to the job - though many outside analysts contend that what he really has his hands on is an economic mess. Too many Liaoning factories still use technology from Soviet days, turn out products nobody wants and are best known for making losses. Industrial reforms have abolished 1.2 million old jobs even as newcomers enter the work force. But Mr Bo appears undaunted.
'Over the next five years, we aim to resolve the unemployment issue', by creating three million new jobs, he said.
This is to be accomplished by attracting investment worth US$100 billion (40 per cent from abroad), 'giving the private sector a free rein' and developing rural industries. 'The aim is to shift the industrial mix from a focus on heavy industries to the service industries,' Mr Bo said.
Software and telecommunications are on his list, but so is producing Liaoning stand-bys such as petrochemicals, steel, vehicles and power systems. No easy task. But neither has Mr Bo's road to the top of his province been easy.