Mayor of China's Shanghai steps down in reshuffle: city government

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Yang Xiong, the mayor of Shanghai, resigned from his post on Tuesday during an annual meeting of the city's parliament, the municipal government said on Tuesday.

The announcement, posted on an official microblog, comes amid a nationwide reshuffle of officials ahead of a twice-a-decade meeting of Communist Party leaders this year at which President Xi Jinping is expected to strengthen his grip on power.

The government did not say who Yang's replacement would be, but a new mayor could be announced when the Shanghai municipal People's Congress wraps up later this week.

Executive vice mayor Ying Yong is seen by some as a top contender. Ying worked under Xi when he was party boss of neighboring Zhejiang province in the early and mid-2000s, and is seen by some scholars as an ally and protégé.

The fate of Yang, who was born in 1953 and holds a master's degree in economics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was not clear.

Yang built his career in Shanghai and became acting mayor in December 2012 and was formally appointed in February the following year. He had been Shanghai's vice-mayor since 2003, according to state news agency Xinhua.

His predecessor, Han Zheng, resigned to become Shanghai's Communist Party secretary, the city's top political post.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch and Brenda Goh)

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