CHINA: Yang Xiong named Shanghai mayor

Yang Xiong, Shanghai's acting mayor, was appointed by the city legislature as city mayor this morning.
He was appointed at the session of the municipal people's congress today.

Yang, 59, was previously named acting mayor of Shanghai in December. He was appointed vice mayor of Shanghai in 2003 and had been executive vice mayor since 2008.

As executive vice mayor, he took charge of various sections including development and reform, planning, population management, statistics, commodity prices and social stability.

During the World Expo in 2010, he served as executive deputy director of the Shanghai World Expo Executive Committee and took part in preparations both at the World Expo site and across the city.
Yang earned a master's degree in economics in 1985 from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

He worked as deputy director of the Economy Research Center of the city government after graduation.
Yang once served as president of Shanghai Airlines Co Ltd and chairman of the supervisors board of Shanghai Airlines Co Ltd until February 2001, when he became vice secretary-general of Shanghai Municipality.