Li Xiaopeng is a Chinese businessman and politician, who is serving as the Minister of Transport. He is the former chief executive of China Huaneng Group, a power generation company. He was also Governor of Shanxi between 2012 and 2016. As the son of former Chinese Premier Li Peng, he is a prominent member of the Chinese princelings.
Background
Li was born in June 1959 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, a large industrial city in Western China. Li Xiaopeng’s paternal grandfather died at age 28 and was hailed as a revolutionary martyr. His grandmother, also a revolutionary, never remarried.
Education
Li attended North China Electric Power University, concentrating on power plant engineering and power systems. Upon graduation in 1982, Li began his career at the Electric Power Science Academy.
Career
After his first post as engineer in the power systems research division, Li became deputy division chief of planning and operations. He later became general manager of the power technology and economic research division of the Electric Power Research Institute.
In 1985 Li joined the Chinese Communist Party. In the same year Huaneng was incorporated as a Sino-foreign joint venture that planned to turn a profit based on imported electricity generating equipment, with the Chinese government holding the majority stake. In 1994, Huaneng was incorporated as Huaneng International Power Development Corporation (HIPDC) with shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The group became the second Chinese energy utility to be listed overseas, following the regional company Shandong Huaneng. From 1994 onward, Li held a number of positions, including vice president of the China State Grid Corporation, vice president, president and vice chairman of Huaneng. Part of Li’s rise is certainly related to his connections, but he is also good at gaining the confidence of investors. In April 2000, he replaced Huang Jinkai to become chairman of the Huaneng board and instigated a complete restructuring. The State Council fully supported his reorganization plan, hoping that Huaneng would become independently managed and assume full responsibility for profits or losses. Under Li, Huaneng went from being a local electrical power company to a key Asian industry conglomerate. With approval from the State Council, Huaneng’s management became fully independent of its parent.
Politics
In 1985 Li joined the Chinese Communist Party.
Personality
Because of his strong connections, Li has always been a contentious character. While some people wonder how an ordinary energy engineer could become such a powerful leader almost overnight, others claim that ‘He could be a senior executive at any utility in the world, regardless of his family connections,’ as noted by David Kiefer, co-manager of Prudential’s $4 billion utility fund (Zuckerman, 1994). Part of the reason Li Xiaopeng remains low-key is because he does not need a high profile to get business done.