Zhang Guangning, former mayor of Guangzhou, China



FRONT PAGE
SiteSearch
About us
Directories


World Mayor
World index of mayors
Mayors from Africa
Mayors from Asia & Australia
Mayors from The Americas
Mayors from Europe
Mayors and political parties
World's largest cities
and their mayors 2010


Mayors from Asia & Australia (Italics indicate ex-mayors)
| Amman | Brisbane | Changwon | Guangzhou | Delhi | Dubai |
Hiroshima | Istanbul | Jakarta | Karachi | Makati City | Marikina | Matsuyama City | Mumbai | Naga City | Nagasaki | New Plymouth | Novosibirsk | Osaka | San Fernando | Shanghai | Taipei | Tehran | Tel Aviv | Tianjin | Tokyo | Wellington | Yokohama

Guangzhou Metro


City Mayors reports news from towns and cities around the world. Worldwide | Elections | North America | Latin America | Europe | Asia | Africa | Events |


Mayors from The Americas, Europe. Asia, Australia and Africa are competing for the annual World Mayor Award. More


City Mayors ranks the world’s largest as well as richest cities and urban areas. It also ranks the cities in individual countries, and provides a list of the capital cities of some 200 sovereign countries. More


City Mayors reports political events, analyses the issues and depicts the main players. More


City Mayors describes and explains the structures and workings of local government in Europe, The Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. More


City Mayors profiles city leaders from around the world and questions them about their achievements, policies and aims. More


City Mayors deals with economic and investment issues affecting towns and cities. More


City Mayors reports on how business developments impact on cities and examines cooperation between cities and the private sector. More


City Mayors describes and explains financial issues affecting local government. More


City Mayors lists and features urban events, conferences and conventions aimed at urban decision makers and those with an interst in cities worldwide. More


City Mayors reports urban environmental developments and examines the challenges faced by cities worldwide. More


City Mayors reports on and discusses urban development issues in developed and developing countries. More


City Mayors reports on developments in urban society and behaviour and reviews relevant research. More


City Mayors deals with urban transport issues in developed and developing countries and features the world’s greatest metro systems. More


City Mayors examines education issues and policies affecting children and adults in urban areas. More


City Mayors investigates health issues affecting urban areas with an emphasis on health in cities in developing countries. More


City Mayors examines the importance of urban tourism to city economies. More


City Mayors examines the contributions history and culture make to urban society and environment. More


City Mayors describes the history, architecture and politics of the greatest city halls in the world. More


City Mayors invites readers to write short stories about people in cities around the world. More


City Mayors questions those who govern the world’s cities and talks to men and women who contribute to urban society and environment. More


City Mayors profiles national and international organisations representing cities as well as those dealing with urban issues. More


City Mayors reports on major national and international sporting events and their impact on cities. More


City Mayors lists cities and city organisations, profiles individual mayors and provides information on hundreds of urban events. More

Zhang Guangning
Former mayor of Guangzhou, China
By Andrew Stevens

12 January 2008: An alumnus of the one party state’s elite cadre school, Zhang Guangning’s progression to lead one of China’s largest and most growing cities is of little surprise. As host of the next Asian Games however, he has placed great emphasis on its international links and secured election to the presidency of the United Cities and Local Governments organisation. Zhang Guangning has been short-listed for the 2008 World Mayor Award.

Zhang was born in 1953 in Jiangsu province. In terms of his education, he holds a Masters in the Philosophy of Law and an MBA. Aged 20 he joined the Communist Party (CPC) and graduated from the elite party school of the central committee. His posts include secretary of the Communist Youth League branch in the Guangzhou Steel Works, deputy secretary and secretary of its CPC Committee, and director of the training centre of the steel works. He then joined the Guangzhou city government in Guangdong Province, most recently serving as executive vice mayor (1996-2003) before being elected mayor of the city in 2003 and again in 2007.

The city is one of the largest municipalities in China (the fourth most populous after Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong) and one of 15 designated sub-provincial cities. Guangzhou is better known outside of China by its Romanised name of Canton. At the peak of global empire-based trading, Canton was one of the world’s largest trading zones and one of the country’s five treaty ports under which it regulated trade with the outside world. As such, Canton was the subject of competing national interests in the Far East during the 19th century, with each trading company exercising jurisdiction over its nationals in the city. The city secured local autonomy as Guangzhou in 1918, serving as the temporary capital of the nationalist Republic of China in 1949 during the Chinese civil war until communist forces of the People’s Republic of China entered the city that year.

Guangzhou has long been the beneficiary of proximity to Hong Kong, with the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping during the 1970s increasing the city’s economic output also, followed by firms relocating from the British colony to take advantage of lower labour costs, which continue today with by attracting great numbers of the country’s rural poor. As a port on the strategically important and ever-expanding Pearl River Delta Region, it continues to reap this particular reward, though substantial environmental degradation has followed as a price. Zhang is the lead mayor for pan-regional cooperation among Pearl River Delta municipalities. Guangzhou will also host the 16th Asian Games in 2010, for which Zhang is the secretary-general. Since becoming mayor, Zhang has placed elevated importance to the city’s international links and has signed sister city agreements with Birmingham in England and Dubai.

Elected deputy to the 10th National People's Congress, deputy to the 7th and 8th People's Congress of Guangdong province, and deputy to the 11th and 12th People's Congress of Guangzhou Municipality, Zhang serves as Vice President of the China Association of Mayors. In 2007 he became co-president of the United Cities and Local Governments organisation.

World Mayor 2023