Xia Baolong
Xia Baolong is a Chinese politician. Originally from Tianjin, Xia began his political career in the Communist Youth League. He served as the vice mayor of Tianjin, governor and Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang province. Since 2018, he has served as a vice chairman of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and secretary general. He has a doctoral degree in Economics. Xia was appointed director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in February 2020.Career
Xia Baolong was born in Tianjin. In his youth, Xia was an elementary and high school teacher in Hebei and Tianjin, and a grassroots level official of the Communist Youth League. He joined the Communist Party of China in November 1973. He received a degree in Chinese from Hexi District Workers' University, an adult-education college, in 1980. Later he rose to the positions of Party Secretary and governor of Hexi District, and then Vice Mayor of Tianjin. Between 1999 and 2003 he studied political economics at Peking University.
In November 2003, Xia was transferred to Zhejiang to become a Deputy Party Secretary of the province. Xia served under then-Zhejiang Party Secretary Xi Jinping. In August 2011, he became the acting governor of Zhejiang, succeeding Lü Zushan, and was officially elected as governor in January 2012. On 18 December 2012, he was promoted to Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang, the top political office of the province.
Xia is alleged to have issued orders for the removal of thousands of crosses from churches, including the Sanjiang Church in the Wenzhou area. Wenzhou is considered a centre of Christianity in China.
Under Xia, Zhejiang hosted the 2016 G20 Summit in Hangzhou. He also attempted to attract Zhejiang businesspeople from abroad. In April 2017 he became a member of the National People's Congress Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee.
Xia Baolong was an alternate member of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Central Committees, and a full member of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
In February 2020, Xia was appointed director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.
