Guangdong native to serve as acting mayor of Shenzhen

Chen Rugui, former Party chief of Zhongshan, was appointed as deputy mayor and acting mayor of Shenzhen during a conference of the city's standing committee of the people's congress on Thursday.

Chen, born in Lianjiang in the western part of Guangdong province in 1962, will be the 13th mayor of Shenzhen and the 12th since the city was designated as China's first special economic zone, which officially kicked off the country's reform and opening-up in the late 1970s.

Chen, an engineer, will also be the first Shenzhen mayor in 27 years who was born in Guangdong. Previously, most of the mayors came from outside the province, including three from East China's Jiangsu province.