Chen Jining

Chen Jining (born 4 February 1964) is a Chinese environmental scientist and politician who has been serving as Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Shanghai since October 2022. Chen is a member of the 20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chen graduated from the Imperial College London with a PhD in environmental systems analysis in 1992. Staying at the Imperial College after his graduation, he completed his postdoctoral studies in 1994 and served as an assistant researcher from 1994 to 1997. In 1998, he returned to his undergraduate alma mater Tsinghua University in Beijing to serve as vice chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering. He then served as the university's vice president from 2006 to 2007, executive vice president from 2007 to 2012, and president from 2012 to 2015.

Joining the Chinese government in 2015, Chen served as Minister of Environmental Protection of China from 2015 to 2017, Vice Mayor of Beijing City from 2017 to 2018, and Mayor of Beijing City from 2018 to 2022.

Early life and education
Chen was born and raised in Gaizhou, Yingkou, Liaoning province in Northeast China. His ancestral home is in Lishu County, Siping in neighbouring Jilin province.

In 1981, he attended Tsinghua University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering with a major in civil and environmental engineering in 1986 and earned a Master's degree in environmental engineering in 1988. Chen then went overseas to Brunel University London and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry. He continued his studies at Imperial College London where he earned a PhD in civil engineering in 1993. After graduation he worked as a research assistant at Imperial College London until 1998.

Career
In March 1998, Chen left the UK and became the deputy director of the Environmental Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, rising to Director the next year. In February 2006, he was vice-president of Tsinghua University, a year later, he was promoted to become the Executive Vice-president. He concurrently served as Dean of the Graduate School of Tsinghua University from January 2010 to February 2012, Dean of the Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University between January 2010 to July 2011.

In February 2012, Chen was appointed president of Tsinghua University, he remained in that position until January 2015, when he was appointed Minister of Environmental Protection of China. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest member of Li Keqiang's cabinet. In 2015, he was also a member of the judging panel for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. In May 2017, Chen was appointed acting Mayor of Beijing, becoming the 17th person to hold the office since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Chen was a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress.

He was awarded the Silver Olympic Order after the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Chen became a member of the Politburo after the 20th Party Congress. Later Chen was transferred to Shanghai and became the party secretary of the city.