The latest transfers of central and provincial government officials indicate that a major reshuffle is in the offing, Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po reported on Friday.

The latest official to move was Yu Guangzhou, former vice-minister of commerce, who took up the post of the deputy Party secretary of Fujian province on Wednesday, it said.

Professor Chen Kainong, from the Central Party School, said: "This kind of transfer and exchange helps to broaden officials' minds."

Some officials focus for a long time on work in a province or a city, and it helps them to gain a more comprehensive view if they can work in the central government, he said.

Meanwhile, for central government officials, it is also important for them work closer to the grassroots, Chen said.

At the beginning of the year, Li Yuanchao, head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China, said its focus this year was "to systemize and formalize communication between senior officials from the central government and those from local governments, especially between officials in key posts".

"Generally after each session of the National People's Congress there is a round of personnel transfers, as some officials retire, and some are dismissed for various reasons," Chen said.

The post of Fujian provincial deputy Party secretary has been vacant since December, when Wang Sanyun was promoted to the governorship of Anhui province.

Yu, 55, with working experience in Jiangsu province and the central government, is an ideal person to fill the post, given the historic opportunities for the development of cross-Straits relations, Wen Wei Po reported.

It also reported on Friday that Huang Wei, the former vice-minister of housing and urban-rural development, was transferred to be the deputy mayor of Beijing.

The newspaper said that the formal appointment would take place at next Thursday's meeting of the standing committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress. Huang, a transport expert, is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Jiang Jianguo, former member of the standing committee of the Hunan provincial Party committee, and director of its publicity department, was also transferred early this month to be the vice-Party secretary and vice-director of the State Press and Publication Administration, Wen Wei Po reported.

Chen Xi, Party secretary of Tsinghua University, will be transferred to the Ministry of Education to serve as vice-minister and vice-Party secretary, it reported.

The Ministry of Culture also has two new vice-ministers. Ouyang Jian, former deputy head of the Central Publicity Department, and Wang Wenzhang, former director of the China Art Academy, are the two new faces at the ministry, Wen Wei Po said.

(China Daily November 15, 2008)