BEIJING -- Young talent from the Communist Youth League of China has quietly risen through the Communist Party's ranks, setting the stage for a future comeback by a faction that once produced top leaders but has been largely sidelined under President Xi Jinping.
The southern province of Yunnan is home to one of these up-and-comers. Duan Ying, head of the province's investment promotion bureau, discussed one of Xi's top economic priorities -- supply chains -- in a meeting with local officials and business figures last month. She called on attendees to "check the state of supply chains in every industry" and "have top companies serve as role models."
At 38, Duan, who was named to the post in February, is the youngest bureau chief anywhere in China. She worked her way up the ranks at economic departments in the province and was tapped as deputy chief of the Communist Youth League's Yunnan branch in 2017.
Out of nine bureau-chief-level officials born in the 1980s, Duan is among the six who came out of the Youth League. Many have climbed the ladder from the party's rank and file or were admitted early to prestigious universities.
That list also includes Huang Wei, who once led the league's Shanxi Province branch and is now deputy Communist Party secretary of the city of Linfen, as well as chief of Hongtong County, which is administered by the city. This leadership stint deep down in local government may be intended as a steppingstone to bigger posts in Beijing or elsewhere.
Duan Ying, left, was tapped to lead Yunnan Province's investment promotion bureau in February, becoming the youngest bureau chief in China at 38. (Photo from social media account affiliated with Yunnan government) Zhou Senfeng, who became China's youngest mayor in 2009 at age 28, now leads the league's Hubei branch. Another rising star is Dong Yuyi, who entered Xi's alma mater of Tsinghua University at 16, held high-level positions at regional organizations in economically stagnant Inner Mongolia and Qinghai Province, and now heads Qinghai's Youth League.
Looking at deputy bureau chief-level posts boosts the total number of 1980s-born officials to about 80, with 60% or so hailing from the Youth League.
Among the brightest prospects is Zhou Mi, who was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China at 15 and was deputy chief of Anhui Province's Youth League branch before becoming the youngest mayor in the province in 2014. Zhou has since 2020 also served as deputy party chief of Hotan in Xinjiang, spearheading economic support efforts there.
The Communist Youth League is nearly as old as the Communist Party itself, holding its first meeting in 1922, the year after the party's formation.
Open to party members between the ages of 14 and 28, the group has served as a training ground for future leaders, producing the likes of former President Hu Jintao, former General Secretary Hu Yaobang and current Premier Li Keqiang.
Its alumni are a force in Communist Party politics known for being particularly close-knit. But this faction's influence began to wane with Xi's ascent to general secretary in 2012.
Li Yuanchao, then considered a top contender to join the Politburo Standing Committee, was snubbed during that year's twice-a-decade party congress. Zhou Qiang, regarded as a potential successor to Xi, was named president of the Supreme People's Court in 2013, making the odds of a future move to a top party post vanishingly small.
Ling Jihua, a Youth League faction member and former right-hand man to Hu Jintao, was ensnared in Xi's anti-corruption campaign in 2014. The following year, Xi criticized the Youth League as out of touch, fostering a growing perception of the group as bureaucratic and aristocratic. Youth League faction member Yang Jing, a close aide to the premier, was ousted as a state councilor in 2018.
This may come into play as party leaders pin down appointments ahead of the planned fall 2022 party congress, where Xi is believed to be eyeing a third term . Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, part of the Youth League faction, has been seen as a potential pick to replace Li as premier but is said to be relatively distant from the president.
The league's future may be brighter. The group, whose base consists of high school and university students, benefits from rising education levels. It had more than 80 million members at the end of 2017.
"There's no alternative organization for cultivating party elites," a senior local government official said. Even if Xi keeps his grip on power in the coming years, Youth League alumni may be positioned to take center stage again by the 2049 centennial of the People's Republic of China.