CHANGSHA- Zhou Qiang was elected secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday.

The election was held at the first plenary session of the 10th CPC Hunan Provincial Committee.

Born in 1960 in Huangmei county, Hubei province, Zhou graduated from the Southwest College of Political Science and Law with a Master of Laws degree in 1985.

He worked in the Ministry of Justice from 1985 to 1995, and then at the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the China Communist Youth League before being appointed as deputy Party chief and acting governor of Hunan in 2006.

Zhou was appointed by the CPC Central Committee as Party chief of Hunan in April 2010.

Zhou was awarded the Champions of the Earth Award by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2005 for his contributions to water pollution control and urban landscaping in Hunan province.

Xu Shousheng and Mei Kebao were elected vice secretaries of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee.