Background
Zhou Bohua was born in Xiangtan, Hunan Province in 1948.
伯华 周
Zhou Bohua was born in Xiangtan, Hunan Province in 1948.
Zhou studied for three years at the Central Party School where he acquired a masters degree.
For many years he worked at the Zhuzhou Metal Plant and the Zhuzhou Welding Materials Factory. In 1981, he became the deputy director of the Zhuzhou municipal economic commission and deputy secretary of the party’s economic committee. After studying for three years at the Central Party School where he acquired a masters degree, Zhou became the executive vice mayor of Zhuzhou municipality in 1986, a position he held until 1990, when he was named the mayor and deputy secretary of the party’s municipal committee. Later Zhou was promoted to the position of deputy governor of Hunan Province, and in 2003 he became the acting governor.
Zhou is known for his strength in microeconomic management, his progressive management style and ability to handle complicated problems. As Hunan governor, Zhou encouraged the development of private business. By the second year of his term in 2005, non-state business contributed RMB316.7 billion, or 48.7 percent of Hunan’s overall GDP.
As director of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, Zhou is working to improve supervision standards for product quality and food safety. He has pushed for tougher measures against unlicensed food vendors and the upgrading of quality standards for thousands of food and consumer products. Under Zhou, in an effort to promote public health and safeguard the international reputation of Chinese products, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce at the end of 2007 made it mandatory for all grocery stores, convenience stores, and roadside stalls to keep records, allowing inspectors to trace the origin of food products.
Zhou joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1970.