Zhang Baoshun was re-elected chairman of the provincial people's congress standing committee of north China's Shanxi Province and Meng Xuenong elected governor on Tuesday at the provincial people's congress.

Zhang, born in 1950, has been chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress since 2006.

A native of Qinhuangdao city, in north China's Hebei Province, he joined the CPC in 1971. He once served as the governor of Shanxi, and deputy secretary and member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee.

Meng had been appointed vice governor and acting governor by the congress last September. He was born in August 1949 and is a native of Penglai, east China's Shandong Province. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in July 1972.

Steel chief elected deputy governor

Chen Chuanping, the head of China's largest steel company, was elected vice governor of the province at the congress held in Taiyuan.

Chen, chairman of Taiyuan Steel Corporation, was born in February 1962in Pinglu, Shanxi Province. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in May 1985.

Chen began working with the firm in 1982 as a technician, gaining a postgraduate degree and becoming a senior engineer before rising through the ranks.

He is an alternate member of the 17th CPC Central Committee and a deputy of the 10th National People's Congress.

Taiyuan Steel has an annual production capacity of 10 million tons of steel.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2008)