Chen Jining (; born 4 February 1964) is a Chinese academic and politician who is a member of the

Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, formally known as the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and known as the Central Bureau before 1927, is the decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ...

and the current

Communist Party secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. An environmental engineer by profession, Chen served as the President of Tsinghua University from 2012 to 2015, Minister of Environmental Protection between 2015 and 2017 and mayor of Beijing from 2017 to 2022.

Early life and education

Chen was born and raised in

Gaizhou Gaizhou (), formerly Gaixian, ''Gaiping'', and Kaiping, is a county-level city in Liaoning province, China. It is under the administration of Yingkou City, which lies to the north-northwest, and is located at the northwest end of the Liaodong P ...

, Liaoning, with his

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Lishu County Lishu County () is a county of western Jilin province, China, bordering Liaoning to the southwest. It is under the administration of Siping City Siping (), formerly Ssupingkai (), is a prefecture-level city in the west of Jilin province, People ...

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

. In 1981, he attended

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

, where he graduated with a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in environmental engineering in 1986. Chen was then educated at

Brunel University London Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...

, and next at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

where he earned a PhD degree in civil and environmental engineering in 1993. After graduation he worked as a research assistant at Imperial College London until 1998.

Career

In March 1998 he became the Deputy Director of the Environmental Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, rising to Director the next year. In February 2006 he was Vice-President of Tsinghua University, a year later, he was promoted to become the Executive Vice-President. He concurrently served as Dean of the Graduate School of Tsinghua University from January 2010 to February 2012, Dean of the Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University between January 2010 to July 2011. In February 2012, Chen was appointed the President of Tsinghua University, he remained in that position until January 2015, when he was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection, People's Republic of China. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest member of Li Keqiang's cabinet. In 2015, he was also a member of the judging panel for the

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, also known as the QEPrize, is a global prize for engineering and innovation. The prize was launched in 2012 by a cross-party group consisting of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband, then Prime M ...

. In May 2017, Chen was appointed acting Mayor of Beijing, becoming the 17th person to hold the office since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Chen was a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress. He was awarded the Silver Olympic Order after the 2022 Winter Olympics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Jining 1964 births Living people Alumni of Brunel University London Alumni of Imperial College London Biologists from Liaoning Chinese civil engineers Chinese ecologists Chinese Communist Party politicians from Liaoning Educators from Liaoning Engineering academics Engineers from Liaoning Environmental engineers Mayors of Beijing Members of the 20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress Ministers of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China People from Gaizhou People's Republic of China politicians from Liaoning Politicians from Yingkou Political office-holders in Beijing Presidents of Tsinghua University Tsinghua University alumni Tsinghua University faculty Recipients of the Olympic Order