OLD HAND OF ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT
Tianjin residents pinned great hopes on Zhang when he became Party chief of the port city neighboring Beijing in March 2007. They hoped the old hand in economic management groomed in the country's reform and opening-up frontiers, such as Shenzhen, would help the city regain its past glory as one of the country's economic hubs.
Zhang did not let them down.
Despite slowdowns in both the Chinese and global economies during the period from 2007 to 2011, Tianjin scored continuous growth in its gross domestic product (GDP), with an annual increase of 16.5 percent for five consecutive years.