Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., China's biggest TV set producer, adjusted its leading group Thursday with its chairman Ni Runfeng's resignation and Zhao Yong's succession.

Changhong is located in Mianyang city of southwest China's Sichuan province. On Thursday, the provincial committee and government announced the adjustment, saying that Ni's departure is because he is at retirement age and at the same time, he is appointed as the provincial government consultant.

Meanwhile, the structure of Changhong has also experienced changes, as the original bureau of directors was canceled and new board of directors was set up, thus to clarify the responsibilities of various levels in the company.

Ni, dubbed as China's home appliance tycoon, was born in 1944. In 1985, he became the leader of the state-owned enterprise Changhong machinery, the predecessor of Changhong Electric Co.

In 1988, when the enterprise became Changhong Electric Co. Ni took the post of board chairman as well as general manager and within ten years, the company has grown into China's TV set giant,with its net assets exceeding tens of billions of yuan and its brand value reaching as high as 26 billion (3 billion US dollars),ranking the nation's first place in electronics industry.

In 2003, Changhong sold more than 12 million TV sets, sharing 16.04 percent of China's TV set market.

Ni resigned his position as the general manager of Changhong in2000 and handed it over to Zhao Yong and Yuang Bangwei. However, he recharged the company again by the working as the chief executive officer a few months later.

Zhao Yong, 41, graduated from one of China's top universities--Qinghua University. He started to work in Changhong in 1993 and left in 2001 to serve as vice mayor of Mianyang.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2004)