Wu Bangguo
Wu Bangguo is chair of China's 10th NPC and a member of the 17th CCP Central Committee Politburo Standing Committee. Wu served as vice premier with the task of reforming state-owned industry from 1994-2003 and is known for his strong grasp of economic issues.
Wu was born in July 1941 in Feidong, Anhui. He joined the CCP in 1964 and went to Shanghai after graduating from the Radio Electronics Department of Qinghua University in 1967. From 1967-78, Wu worked in the Shanghai No. 3 Electronic Tube Factory as an engineer, technical division chief, deputy party secretary, deputy director, and eventually director. He then served as deputy manager of the Shanghai Electronic Component Industrial Co. in 1978-79, and as deputy party secretary of the Shanghai Meters, Instruments, and Telecommunications Bureau in 1981-83.
In 1983, Wu became a Standing Committee member of the Shanghai CCP and secretary of the Shanghai CCP committee in charge of science and technology. In 1985, he was promoted as deputy secretary of the Shanghai CCP. Following Zhu Rongji's move to Beijing in 1991, Wu was appointed CCP secretary of Shanghai, making him one of the youngest provincial-level party secretaries.
Wu was elected a member of the politburo in 1992 and transferred to Beijing in 1994, becoming a member of the CCP Central Committee Secretariat. In 1995, Wu was nominated and confirmed as vice premier of the State Council. He was re-appointed as vice premier in 1998 to a five-year term. Wu was promoted to second in rank in the party hierarchy as member of the Politburo Standing Committee in November 2002 and was appointed head of the NPC in March 2003.
Wu was an alternate member of the 12th and 13th CCP central committees. He was a member of the 14th-17th CCP central committees. In addition, Wu was a politburo member of the 14th-17th CCP central committees; he was a Politburo Standing Committee member of the 16th and 17th central committees.