Liu Yupu, the deputy Party chief of Guangdong Province, has been appointed new Party chief of Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province.

His appointment was announced today at the Shenzhen cadre conference at 11am, which also nominated him as chief of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen People's Congress.

Liu, born in Shandong Province in 1949, was also an alternate member of the 17th Central Committee of the CPC, according to the report. Liu joined the CPC in 1971.

Liu's predecessor, Li Hongzhong was elected acting governor of Hubei Province on December 6.

Li, also a Shandong Province native, was born in 1956. He joined the CPC in 1976 and had served as the vice governor of Guangdong Province, the Party chief of Huizhou City and the mayor of Shenzhen.

Shenzhen is China's first Special Economic Zone. The city swiftly developed from a fishing village to a metropolis after Deng Xiaoping, the former leader of China, initiated the reform and opening policy there in 1980.

(Shanghai Daily January 2, 2008)