Yao Jianhua

Yao joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in April 1975 and entered the workforce in September 1974. He began his career as an accountant for the Donglian production team in Donghutang Commune, Wuxi County, before becoming a brigade leader and later secretary of the commune's Communist Youth League committee. Between 1982 and 1985, Yao studied agronomy at Jiangsu Agricultural College. Afterward, he served as deputy party secretary and later party secretary of Yangjian Township, Wuxi County. From 1991 to 1993, while serving as a member of the Wuxi County Party Committee, he was concurrently assigned as vice mayor of Hanzhong in Shaanxi Province. In 1993, he became a member of the Party Standing Committee of Xishan and head of its Agricultural and Industrial Department.^[2]

In 1996, Yao was appointed director and Party secretary of the Wuxi Municipal Agriculture Bureau, a position he held until 2000, during which time he also completed his undergraduate studies in economic management at the Central Party School by correspondence. He subsequently became vice mayor of Wuxi, before being transferred to Jiangyin in 2001 as deputy party secretary and later mayor. From 2003, he served as vice mayor of Wuxi while concurrently holding the position of mayor of Jiangyin.^[3]

In 2003, Yao moved to Taizhou as executive vice mayor and CCP deputy committee secretary, later becoming acting mayor in January 2006 and then mayor, a position he held until July 2010. During his tenure, he was also honorary dean of the Taizhou branch of the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences. He returned to Wuxi in 2010 as deputy party secretary and later vice chairman of the Wuxi Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.^[4]

In June 2012, Yao was elected chairman of the Standing Committee of the Wuxi Municipal People's Congress. He also served as a deputy to the 11th National People's Congress.^[5][6]