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Youngest mayor ready to prove he can handle position

By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-24 09:48

The man believed to be China's youngest mayor, and the first of the post-1980 generation to reach such a post, understands why people doubt his qualifications.

Zhou Senfeng [File photo]

"The concerns about my inexperience are reasonable," said Zhou Senfeng, who at 29 is now mayor of Yicheng, Hubei province.

"As a youthful mayor born after 1980, I lag far behind senior officials in experience," he was quoted saying by Xinhua. "But what young officials need is the stage where we can perform. We will develop better when we are given such a stage," he said.

His quick rise has aroused heated discussion among the public, especially on the Internet, about his youth and alleged inexperience.

In China, mayors are usually not elected until their mid 30s or even 40s.

An online poll by Sina.com with 36,420 respondents showed 60 percent believed it was acceptable as long as he got the position openly and legally, while 25 percent felt even he is talented, one needs experience to be mayor.

"Age does not matter as long as he is able to handle problems such as social unrest and the grassroots problems in the countryside", said Gao Xinmin, a professor from the Party School of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China.

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Zhou, the former acting mayor of Yicheng, was elected mayor by a unanimous vote Sunday.

He pledged to "live up to people's expectations and be fully devoted to the development of Yicheng".

Zhou told Xinhua he was born to an ordinary family in a Henan village and his parents still live in the countryside.

His father works in a local brick factory, according to reports.

"Both of them are peasants and none of my relatives are officials," he was quoted as saying.

Zhou went to Xiangfan city of Hubei province after graduating in 2004 from well-known Tsinghua University, where he got his master's degree in management science and engineering.

His first job in Xiangfan was vice director of the city's construction committee. In 2007 he became vice director of the city's urban planning bureau and one year later he went to Yicheng, a county-level city with a population of 560,000 under the administration of Xiangfan, and took the position of vice mayor.

"It is obvious to all that he is very talented and hardworking. Every colleague thinks highly of him," said an official surnamed Wang, who was Zhou's colleague in Xiangfan city.

Xinhua contributed to the story