Han Zheng, who was elected to replace Chen Liangyu as mayor on Thursday, said during his inaugural speech, "As city mayor, I am fully aware of the responsibilities that are bestowed upon me by my 16 million fellow residents."

"We always aim to create a clean and efficient government that puts the people's interest atop any of other considerations," said Han, 49.

"I'm sure Shanghai will have a better future if we work hard to fulfill the tasks spelled out by the government reports," he said, referring to a series of documents presented to the session by the local government and various departments.

"The city will continue to improve its environment for absorbing foreign investment and becoming a part of the global economy." Before the speech, he introduced eight vice mayors to reporters.

"The average age of our nine is 49 years old, with five of us below 50 years old," said Han, noting that the youngest of them is the 38-year-old Tang Dengjie.

The eight vice mayors are:

Feng Guoqin, re-elected, will be mainly responsible for the city's supervision and audits, finance, personnel affairs and cooperation with other parts of the country.

Zhou Yupeng, re-elected, will be mainly responsible for development and planning, statistics, government structural reform, foreign capital, foreign investment and foreign trade.

Yang Xiaodu, re-elected, will be mainly responsible for public health, population and birth control, culture, media, publishing and sports.

Yan Junqi, reelected, will be mainly responsible for education, science and technology, and intellectual property rights.

Jiang Sixian, reelected, will be mainly responsible for Pudong New Area, foreign affairs, affairs of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, religion and work regarding overseas Chinese.

Yang Xiong, newly elected, will be mainly responsible for urban construction and management, real estate, water, traffic and environmental protection.

Zhou Taitong, newly elected, will be mainly responsible for labor, social welfare, medical insurance, industrial and commercial management, quality supervision, and civil affairs.

Tang Dengjie, newly elected, will be mainly responsible for industry, agriculture, commerce, tourism, and work safety.

(eastday.com February 24, 2003)