China's New Provincial Leaders: Major Reshuffling Before the 17th National Party Congress

This article surveys the profiles of current provincial leaders in order to determine the possible provincial reshuffling that may occur as a result of on-going elections for provincial Party committees in China. This is a politically significant exercise because the two chief leaders of each provincial unit — the provincial Party Secretary and the provincial governor — will likely enter the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 2007 as full members. The stakes are even higher for provincial units with a seat in the Politburo because the Party Secretary of the provincial unit will probably enter the 17th Politburo.