Liu Qi

Secretary, China Communist Party

Date of Birth: 1942

In August 2008, the sun shone brightly on the Beijing Olympics. With Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping providing behind-the-scenes muscle, the government forced factory closures and enacted draconian traffic restrictions. The veil of smog lifted at the last minute and the lion’s share of the credit goes to Liu Qi.

As the head of the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee, Liu presided over the eight-year effort to revamp the host city. When the Games began, the world was suitably awed by the opening ceremony, events ran smoothly and the home team hauled in the medals. Minor kerfuffles – a possibly under-age gymnast and a lip-synched national anthem – were quickly forgotten: US$40 billion well spent.

A victory lap for the maestro, then. On a 20-27 November tour, Liu stopped in Livingstone, Zambia, to view Victoria Falls – and to discuss tourism and trade with Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe. He held talks with South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and African National Congress President Jacob Zuma. With Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile, Liu negotiated Chinese participation in infrastructure development for the 2010 Football World Cup. Before heading home, he stopped in Britain to give London Mayor Boris Johnson some advice on the city’s hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games.

A metallurgical engineer by training, Liu joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ranks while working at the Wuhan Iron and Steel Company. He rose to become its manager and then was appointed Minister of Metallurgical Industry.

Liu was Mayor of Beijing from 1999 to 2002, then became the city’s CCP Secretary. His promotion was timely: the government’s sluggish reaction to the 2002-2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak quickly scuttled the Mayorship of Liu’s successor, Meng Xuenong.