New Zhijiang Army

The New Zhijiang Army (simplified Chinese: 之江新军; traditional Chinese: 之江新軍; pinyin: Zhījiāng Xīnjūn), is a term used by observers to represent political figures in the Communist Party of China who held important provincial and local posts during Xi Jinping's term as Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang province. The "new army" refers to people who were closely associated with Xi and identifies with his political views, and who have since then taken on prominent political posts at the provincial level or in central party and state organs.

The term was first widely used by Ma Haoliang (马浩亮), editor at Hong Kong-based newspaper Ta Kung Pao in an article entitled the New Zhijiang Army of Chinese Politics. The term Zhijiang refers to the Qiantang River, which runs through the province, but is often used as a poetic reference for the greater Zhejiang region. The term was initially used as title to Xi Jinping's book Zhijiang Xinyu (之江新语), a book compiling the political philosophies of Xi Jinping during his five-year term as party chief of Zhejiang, published in 2007.^[1]

Suggested members

Name	Born	Office held in Zhejiang during Xi's term	Office held as of 2016
Cai Qi 蔡奇	December 1955	Party Secretary of Quzhou, Party Secretary of Taizhou	Mayor of Beijing
Huang Kunming 黄坤明	November 1956	Party Secretary of Jiaxing	Executive deputy head of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China
Chen Derong 陈德荣	March 1961	Mayor of Jiaxing	Chief executive of Baosteel
Bayanqolu 巴音朝鲁	October 1955	Party Secretary of Ningbo	Party Secretary of Jilin province
Lou Yangsheng 楼阳生	October 1959	Party Secretary of Lishui	Governor of Shanxi province
Xia Baolong 夏宝龙	December 1952	Deputy Party Secretary of Zhejiang	Party Secretary of Zhejiang province
Li Qiang 李强	July 1959	Secretary-General of Zhejiang Party Committee	Party Secretary of Jiangsu province
Chen Min'er 陈敏尔	September 1960	Director of Zhejiang provincial party Propaganda Department	Party Secretary of Guizhou province
Ying Yong 应勇	November 1957	Director of Supervision Department, Zhejiang President of Zhejiang High Court Deputy Secretary of Zhejiang Discipline Inspection Commission	Deputy Party Secretary of Shanghai Director of Party Organization Department of Shanghai
Zhong Shaojun 钟绍军	1968	Xi's chief of staff	Senior Colonel of the People's Liberation Army Deputy Director of the General Office of the Central Military Commission

Others

Other politicians have been named by Chinese-language media as associates of Xi Jinping. They have known or worked under him as a result of their regional tenures in Shaanxi province (Xi's "home province"), the southeast (Zhejiang and Fujian provinces), or through Tsinghua University, where Xi spent time in his youth. Those named include Li Zhanshu, Huang Xingguo, Liu He, Chen Xi, He Yiting, Li Shulei, and Li Xi. In the military, Liu Yazhou, Zhang Youxia, and Liu Yuan have been named as some of Xi's top associates.^[2]

See also

• Tuanpai
• Shanghai clique

References

1. Ma, Haoliang (December 29, 2014). "中国政坛的"之江新军"". Ta Kung Po via Mingjing.
2. Reuters via Deutsche Welle