Younger officials are increasingly being asked to fill ministerial and provincial-level posts, a trend that became evident after the most recent round of personnel adjustments, which began late last year.

Shen Weichen, 54, former Party secretary of the CPC Committee in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, was promoted to vice director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee (CPCCC).

Wang Guangya, 60, a former vice foreign minister, was nominated Friday to the post of director general of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs at the State Council. Wang's predecessor was 68-year-old Liao Hui.

These appointments by the central government and the CPCCC were noticeable because most were younger than their predecessors, according to Monday's Southern Metropolis Daily.

Provincial authorities are also following suit by promoting younger officials, most of whom were born in or after the 1950s. They tend to be generally under 60 and many have an anti-corruption background.

The latest round of personnel changes kicked off in November last year, two months after the Fourth Plenary Session of the 17th CPCCC opened.

Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po noted that the changes are part of preliminary measures before the reelection of senior Party officials at the 18th National Congress due in 2012.

It is considered a tradition that personnel adjustments of ministerial and provincial-level officials occur in the middle of the two CPC national congresses, the newspaper reported, noting that the posts of several governors and Party secretaries of provinces were transferred or adjusted in December 2004, three months after the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th CPCCC.

According to a regulation issued by the CPCCC in 1982, the age of incumbent governors and Party secretaries of provinces should generally not exceed 65.

By June, most of the heads of governments and Party committees in 31 provinces, autono-mous regions and municipalities were born in or after the 1950s, after the adjustment, Nanfang Daily reported.

Hong Kong-base Ta Kung Pao said that younger officials stepping into the spotlight is a trend that began in the central leadership. After the 17th National Congress, six of the 28 members of the CPCCC Political Bureau and Secretariat were officials born in the 1950s.

Lin Zhe, a professor of political studies at the Central Party School, said that the personnel overhaul was part of an effort to promote the administrative capacity of the ruling Party.

However, she also warned that it was not necessarily a good phenomenon that officials become younger and younger.

Qiu Xiaohua, former chief of the National Statistics Bureau (NSB), was deposed by the central government in 2007 for taking bribes and remarrying. At 48, Qiu was the youngest leader of the NSB.