On 17 September 2019, former All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese Vice Chairman Li Bo (李波) went to Chongqing Securities Regulatory Bureau for an inspection tour as Chongqing municipal government CCP committee member, indicating that he has been appointed as Chongqing Vice Mayor. His appointment was later confirmed on 26 September 2019.
Li Bo has an extraordinary background, for that he was a “returned” official who went to the United States and earned a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard University.
At Stanford, Li studied under Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow. Li started his career as a lawyer in New York, before returning to China in 2004 to the PBOC—China’s central bank—as Department of Treaty and Law Deputy Director. He was appointed Department of Treaty and Law Director in 2008 at age 36, becoming one of the youngest full-departmental officials at the time. In that role, Li was key to the legislation of anti-money laundering and foreign exchange management, as well as to the reform of state-owned commercial banks. Li was also a key official in RMB internationalization, during his tenure at PBOC’s Department of Monetary Policy II. Chongqing has been lacking a vice mayor since former vice mayor Li Dianxun (李殿勋) was appointed Hunan CCPSC member in May 2019.