Leading Chinese car engineer given provincial leadership role in Hubei
- The appointment of Shao Xinyu comes as the leadership is seeking to promote more officials with science and technology backgrounds
- Shao is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and previously served as vice-minister for science and technology
A prominent motor engineer has been promoted to the leadership of a central Chinese province as Beijing seeks to install more cadres with science and technology background in key positions of power.
Shao Xinyu, who was made a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering for his research achievements, has been appointed to the standing committee of Hubei’s provincial Communist Party committee, the newspaper Hubei Daily reported on Thursday.
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Shao, 55, was named a vice governor of Hubei last year. The latest appointment makes him the only one among the province’s seven vice governors to sit on the top decision-making body.
Shao, whose research has been widely applied to car, aircraft and ship manufacturing, previously served as vice minister of science and technology from 2021 to 2022.
Previously, he was head of the school of mechanical engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, where he led the development of a number of technological innovations. These include high-powered laser equipment and production lines for car bodies, as well as a digital optimisation platform for vehicle and engine manufacturing.
He became the university’s party secretary in 2017 and was elected as a member of the engineering academy two years later.
