Li Keqiang
Li Keqiang was appointed vice premier in March 2008. He became a Standing Committee member of the 17th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo in October 2007.
Li was born in July 1955 in Dingyuan, Anhui, the son of a low-ranking local official. In 1974, he was sent to Fengyang County, Anhui, to work in an agricultural commune. After joining the CCP in 1976, he served as secretary of the local party branch until 1978, when he was admitted to Beijing University after the Cultural Revolution. Li graduated from Beijing University's Department of Law in 1982. From 1988 to 1994, he studied in an on-the-job post-graduate program at Beijing University, where he acquired a Master's degree and PhD in economics.
After graduating from Beijing University in 1982, Li spent the next 16 years working in various capacities at the Communist Youth League of China under Hu Jintao. Li also served as vice chair of the All-China Youth Federation while Hu was chair. In 1991, Li took a brief sabbatical from his official duties to attend the Central Party School.
In 1998, Li was named deputy party secretary and acting governor of Henan; he was named governor of Henan in 1999. In 2002, Li was reappointed as provincial governor and concurrently elevated to provincial party secretary.
In 2004, Li was reassigned to Liaoning, where he was appointed provincial party secretary and chair of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress.
Li served as a Standing Committee member of the 8th and 11th National People's Congress and a member of the Central Committee for the 15th and 16th CCP congresses.
With his elevation to the Politburo Standing Committee and appointment as vice premier, Li has been mentioned frequently as a possible successor to current PRC Premier Wen Jiabao.