[The city of Linfen in central China's Shanxi Province] is struggling to find someone – anyone – to serve as the city’s mayor.

The position has now been vacant for more than half a year following the sacking of the last incumbent.

[...]To keep the job, the next mayor will have to make sure the city’s mines are safe places to work. But that will be no easy task.

China has an appalling record when it comes to work safety, something the central government has pledged to improve.

As part of that plan it is forcing local government leaders to close down small and illegal mines.

© dwang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iron mines, Linfen, local officials, mayor, Tashan
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Shanghai’s mayor won a second five-year term Wednesday, cementing his political survival after a wide-ranging corruption scandal brought down the city’s Communist Party boss.

Han Zheng, 57, was reappointed at the annual meeting of the municipal legislature, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua gave no details. Han’s new term will run through Shanghai’s staging of the 2010 World Expo, an opportunity for international exposure that the city hopes will rival Beijing’s hosting of this year’s Summer Olympic Games.

Han, first appointed mayor in 2003, pledged last week to repair the city’s “negative image,” a reference to the scandal that toppled Chen Liangyu, the city’s most powerful official, in September 2006, as well as other top city officials and businessmen.

© Kate Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: mayor, Shanghai
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