China’s 19th National Congress came to an end on Oct. 24, concluding a week of political horse-trading to determine the new generation of Party leadership. 204 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members were chosen to sit in the high-ranking Central Committee. Those high-profile party members who were conspicuously left out had one thing in common—their political affiliation to the faction opposing current Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping.
One exception is Han Zheng. At a press conference on Oct. 25, it was revealed that the incumbent Shanghai party secretary was chosen to be one of the elite seven in the Politburo Standing Committee, the Party’s top decision-making body. Han has a long political career in Shanghai that began in the late 1980s, when he established ties with Jiang Zemin who was Party boss there before becoming the leader of the CCP. The city has become known as a breeding ground for Jiang allies.
