Li Qiang, a close aide of Xi Jinping, is set to become China's next Premier. He will succeed Li Keqiang, who retires this month after serving two terms at the helm.
Li, 63, is considered very close to President Xi. Trey McArver, co-founder of consultancy Trivium China, told Reuters that Li is likely to be much more powerful as officials know he "is Xi Jinping's guy".
Born in Ruian county in what is now Wenzhou, the 17-year-old Li went to work in 1976 at an irrigation station in his hometown, a desirable job in what turned out to be the final year of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.
Born in 1959, Li joined the Communist Party of China in 1983. From 2011 to 2016, he was Deputy Secretary of CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and Secretary of Zhejiang Political and Law Committee.
Leadership watchers say Li Qiang's closeness to Xi is both a strength and a vulnerability: while he has Xi's trust, he is beholden to his long-time patron.
Li Qiang oversaw the harrowing two-month Covid lockdown in Shanghai last year. He was also instrumental in pushing for China's sudden end to its zero-Covid policy.
Li Qiang's ties with the President go back to 2004 when Xi was the party boss of Zhejiang and Li was his chief of staff between 2004 and 2007. American author Robert Lawrence Kuhn said the two shared an easy rapport.
Li studied agricultural mechanisation at the Ningbo Branch of Zhejiang Agricultural University. He also holds master's degrees from the central party school in Beijing and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
American author Robert Lawrence Kuhn met Li and Xi together in 2005 and 2006. He said the two shared an easy rapport. "Unlike most other staffers of top leaders, Li was no wall-flower," he said.
Recalling his meeting, Kuhn said, in the presence of Xi, Li felt comfortable enough to put himself forward to engage him. Kuhn said Li was not worried that his boss might think he was trying to steal his limelight.