Huang Kunming (; born November 1956) is a Chinese politician, currently serving as the Communist Party secretary of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Until 2022, he served as the head of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party. He joined the Publicity Department in 2014 as a deputy head. Prior to his appointment he served in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, and is considered a close associate of Xi Jinping, the current

general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount lead ...

. He was the one time Communist Party secretary of

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also Chinese postal romanization, romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the prov ...

Career

Huang was born in Shanghang County,

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

province. In December 1974, Huang began serving in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

. Two years later, he joined the Chinese Communist Party. In 1977, after serving for three years in the army, he went back to his home county and became a secretary. He entered Fujian Normal University in 1978. After graduation, he was sent by the party to work in the Longyan region of Fujian in a series of administrative roles. He later rose through the hierarchy to become Party Committee Secretary of Yongding County, then in February 1998, following the conversion of the administrative status of Longyan from a Prefecture into a "City", Huang became its mayor. In August 1999, he was sent to the city of Huzhou in neighbouring Zhejiang province to serve as mayor. In February 2003, he became party secretary of Jiaxing, a prosperous city on China's east coast. By June 2007, Huang was named a member of the provincial Party Standing Committee and the head of the provincial party organization's Publicity Department. At around the same time, he earned a Masters of Public Administration from Tsinghua University. In January 2010, Huang was named party secretary of

, one of about a dozen cities with "sub-provincial" status in China. Huang became an alternate member of the

18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 18th National Congress on 15 November 2012, and sat in plenary sessions until the communing of the 19th National Congress in 2017. It was formally proceeded by the 17t ...

held in the fall of 2012. In October 2013, he was named deputy head of the Central Publicity Department. In December 2014, he was promoted to executive deputy head, with rank equivalent to that of a minister. The executive deputy head position of the Publicity Department is a powerful one, as it oversees roughly all day-to-day administrative aspects of the department. External observers have called Huang's installation in the position as a means to check the influence of Liu Yunshan, a member of the party's top ruling body the Politburo Standing Committee who is widely believed to be a conservative. Huang was also named chief of the Office of the

Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization The Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization, CGCBSC (), also known as the Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress, is a commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It is tasked w ...

. The later years of Huang's career roughly follows in the footsteps of Xi Jinping, who was named General Secretary of the Communist Party in 2012. Huang began working with Xi in Fujian province where Xi served as governor. Later Huang moved to Zhejiang during Xi's term as Party Committee Secretary there. After Xi rose to become party leader, Huang again was transferred from Zhejiang to the party centre. Because of Huang's close links with Xi, he is considered a member of the New Zhijiang Army, an informal grouping of Xi's closest associates who were considered destined for higher office. After the

19th Party Congress The 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (commonly referred to as ''Shíjiǔ Dà''; ) was held at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, between 18 and 24 October 2017. 2,280 delegates represented the party's estimated 89 milli ...

, Huang became head of the Publicity Department, and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Shortly thereafter he also became head of a task force on combating pornography and illegal publications. Huang was an alternate member of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and a full member of the 19th Central Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Kunming Tsinghua University alumni Politicians from Longyan Living people Members of the 20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party People's Republic of China politicians from Fujian 1956 births Alternate members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Chinese Communist Party politicians from Fujian Hakka politicians