Exclusive | Former close subordinate of Xi Jinping expected to become Shanghai mayor
Rising star Ying Yong to step up from deputy role to replace Yang Xiong
Ying Yong, a former close subordinate of President Xi Jinping, is expected to be appointed mayor of Shanghai, replacing Yang Xiong at the helm of the mainland’s commercial hub.
Ying, 59, worked under Xi during his tenure as Zhejiang Communist Party chief from 2003 to 2007, and becomes the latest trusted subordinate of the president to take a leading position in a key provincial-level region.
According to two local government sources who were briefed on the personnel change, the elevation of Ying was decided by the mainland leadership earlier this year and is expected to be announced soon. Ying currently serves as vice-mayor.
Between 2003 and 2007, Ying assumed a series of senior party and government roles in Zhejiang, including deputy secretary of the party’s commission for discipline inspection, chief of the supervision bureau and head of the higher court.
He was appointed chief of the Shanghai Higher People’s Court in 2008 before assuming a role in the party’s organisation department five years later.