BEIJING - Fan Changlong and Xu Qiliang were appointed vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Sunday.

The seventh Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee made the announcement in a communique upon the closure of the four-day meeting that the CMC was augmented to include Fan and Xu, both members of the 17th CPC Central Committee, as vice-chairmen.

General Fan is currently commander and deputy party chief of the Jinan Military Area Command.

He was born in Dandong city of Northeast China's Liaoning province in May 1947, and joined the CPC in September 1969.

Fan joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in January 1969, and graduated from the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

From January 1969 to September 1985, he served in the artillery regiment of the 16th Corps of the PLA Army.

From 1985 to 1990, Fan served as chief of staff of the 48th Division of the 16th Group Army and in September 1990 he was promoted to commander of the 46th Division of the 16th Group Army.

In 1995, he was promoted to commander of the 16th Group Army and in 2000 to chief of staff of the Shenyang Military Area Command.

In December 2003, he was appointed to be an Assistant Chief of General Staff of the PLA and in 2004 he became the commander and deputy party chief of the Jinan Military Area Command.

Fan was an alternate member the 16th CPC Central Committee and has been a member of the 17th CPC Central Committee.

General Xu was born in March 1950 in East China's Shandong province and joined the CPC in July 1967. He joined the PLA in July 1966 and graduated from the fifth aviation school of the PLA Air Force, holding a junior-college diploma.

Xu, an Air Force General, is a member of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China.

Beginning his military career as a flying cadet in the first preparatory school of the PLA Air Force, Xu served as the Air Force Commander for more than five years before Sunday's promotion.

After a study period of roughly three months, Xu was transferred to the PLA Army's Ace troop, the 38th Corps, in 1966 to receive basic training and back to the Air Force at the end of 1967 to learn flying.

Xu became an Air Force pilot in August 1969 and was promoted to be the chief of the independent squadron of the Air Force's 26th Division in 1976.

Xu served as deputy commander of the 26th Division and later the commander from 1980 to 1984, a period during which he also studied in a senior course of the Air Force's Command Institute.

Xu was promoted to chief of staff of the Air Force's command post in Shanghai in 1985 and then became a cadet to the PLA's National Defense University and graduated in 1988.

After that, he was promoted to commander of the Air Force's Eighth Corps in 1990, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff in 1993 and chief of staff in 1994.

Xu took two short-term courses in the PLA's National Defense University in 1994 and 1998. He served as deputy commander of the PLA's Shenyang Military Area Command from 1999 to 2004, during which he took another short course for generals in the PLA's National Defense University.

Xu was promoted to the PLA's deputy chief of general staff in 2004 and appointed to serve as commander of the PLA's Air Force in 2007, when he was also recruited by the CPC's Central Military Commission at the first Plenary session of the CPC's 17th Central Committee.

Xu was promoted to an Air Force full general in 2007 before he was commissioned the Air Force commander.

Xu was an alternate member of the CPC's 14th and 15th Central Committees and a member of the CPC's 16th Central Committee and has been a member of the 17th CPC Central Committee.

The plenary session was held from November 1 to 4 in Beijing.