Ma Xingrui (; born October 1959) is a Chinese politician and aerospace engineer who is the

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 ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

. Prior to that, he had served as the Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Head of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Guangdong,

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

Deputy Party Secretary In modern Chinese politics, a Deputy Party Committee Secretary (; also translated as Deputy Party Secretary, deputy party chief, vice party chief) serves as the lieutenant to the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, and thus the deput ...

of Guangdong, and

Governor of Guangdong The Politics of Guangdong follows a dual party-government system like the rest of China's provinces. Guangdong is known for a surge of legislative activism in recent years, often called the Guangdong Phenomenon (''Guangdong Xianxiang''). The Guang ...

. Ma 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). ...

. Ma is recognized as one of China's top scientists. He previously served as Vice President of Harbin Institute of Technology, General Manager of

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, or CASC, is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has subsidiaries which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategi ...

, Director of the

China National Space Administration China National Space Administration (CNSA; ) is the government agency of the People's Republic of China that is responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation, including organizing or leading foreign exchanges ...

, and chief commander of

Chang'e 3 Chang'e 3 (; ) is a robotic lunar exploration mission operated by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), incorporating a robotic lander and China's first lunar rover. It was launched in December 2013 as part of the second phase of t ...

, China's first lunar exploration mission.

Education and academic career

Ma Xingrui was born in October 1959 in

Shuangyashan Shuangyashan () is a coal mining prefecture-level city located in the eastern part Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, bordering Russia's Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais to the east. The city's name means a pair-of-ducks mountains ...

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

province, to a family of mine workers in China's industrial northeast. His branch of the family migrated from

Yuncheng County Yuncheng () is a county in the southwest of Shandong province, China. It is the northernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Heze. It borders the Yellow River and Henan (Taiqian County and Fan County) to the north, Liangshan ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

to Shuangyashan in the 1930s during his grandfather's generation. He received a bachelor's degree at Fuxin Mining College (now

Liaoning University of Technology Liaoning University of Technology (), formerly Liaoning Institute of Technology, is a university in Jinzhou, Liaoning province, northeast China. Founded in 1951, Liaoning University of Technology is a provincial university of higher learning, s ...

) in 1982, and went on to graduate school for general mechanics at

Tianjin University Tianjin University (TJU, ), formerly Peiyang University (), is a national public research university in Tianjin, China. The university was established in 1895 by Guangxu Emperor's royal charter to be the first university of China. It is now fu ...

. He earned his doctorate in mechanics at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). He joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

(CCP) in January 1988. He stayed at HIT to pursue post-doctoral work, and was named a professor in 1991. In April 1992 he became dean of the school of mechanics at the institute. In April 1996 he was named vice president of the institute.

Aerospace industry

In May 1996 Ma was appointed Vice-Dean of

Chinese Academy of Space Technology The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) () is a Chinese space agency and subordinate of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The agency was founded on 20 February 1968, and is the main spacecraft development and prod ...

(CAST), and became the leader and chief engineer of the '' Shijian 5'' satellite project. In 1999 he was named deputy general manager of

(CASC). In December 2003 he was additionally appointed Chairman of the Sino Satellite Communications Company and worked on various lunar missions. In September 2007, Ma was promoted to General Manager of CASC. In 2013 Ma was appointed Director of the

, Director of the

China Atomic Energy Authority China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA; ) is the regulatory agency that oversees the development of nuclear energy in the People's Republic of China. History The agency was created out of the regulatory functions department of the China National N ...

, Director of the SASTIND, and Vice-Minister of Industry and Information Technology. He was the chief commander of the successful

mission, China's first lunar surface exploration.

Political career

In 2012, Ma was elected as a full member of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In November 2013, Ma left his posts in the world of science and was transferred to Guangdong to serve as deputy party secretary of the province and concurrently the Secretary of the provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission. In March 2015, he was named Communist Party Secretary of

, replacing Wang Rong. Ma's appointment in Shenzhen placed him in his first executive party leadership role. His appointment also elevated the status of the office, given that his predecessor Wang is only an alternate member of the Central Committee, while Ma is a full member. In December 2016, Ma was appointed as the acting

. In a break with tradition, Ma became the first governor in over 30 years to have not been native to the province. Ma was elected as the Governor of Guangdong on 23 January 2017. In October 2017, Ma was elected as a full member of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In December 2021, Ma was appointed as the secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Since his accession to the post, Xinjiang has seen relative normalization in some aspects, such as

turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a ...

s between residential areas being removed and two-day breaks in weekends for public officials being restored. In October 2022, Ma was elected as a full member of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Xingrui 1959 births Living people Governors of Guangdong Chinese aerospace engineers Chinese Lunar Exploration Program People's Republic of China politicians from Heilongjiang Political office-holders in Guangdong Chinese Communist Party politicians from Heilongjiang Tianjin University alumni Harbin Institute of Technology alumni Harbin Institute of Technology faculty Politicians from Shuangyashan Scientists from Heilongjiang China National Space Administration people Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Engineers from Heilongjiang Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress Members of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference