Chen Liangyu, acting mayor of Shanghai, was elected Tuesday mayor of this east China metropolis at the fifth session of the 11th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.
Chen, 56, had served as Shanghai's acting mayor since December 7, when Xu Kuangdi, former Shanghai mayor, announced his resignation.
Chen vowed that Shanghai would be one of the first Chinese cities to open its doors wider to foreign investment after the country joined the World Trade Organization in December.
The city's economy was likely to expand nine to 10 percent this year, Chen said on Friday. Shanghai reported 10.2 percent growth in 2001.
Chen, 56, is a native of Ningbo, east China's Zhejing Province. He studied in the Chinese People's Liberation Army's Logistic Engineering Institute from 1963 to 1968. He also took positions in factories and government bodies.
Chen studied at Birmingham University in the Great Britain from January to September 1992.
The newly elected mayor acted as deputy secretary of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and vice mayor of Shanghai before he was appointed acting mayor of Shanghai on December 2001.
(China Daily February 27, 2002)
