Chinese academician chosen as governor's assistant in Jiangsu

NANJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Residents of China's booming eastern province of Jiangsu will soon see a scholar in the line-up of local government officials, as Chinese Academy of Engineering Academician Xu Nanping has been chosen as assistant to the local governor.

Xu attended a plenary meeting of local officials on Wednesday for the first time in his new role. Observers believe Xu's nomination represents part of the movement to select capable non-Communists or scholars to assume government posts.

The 47-year-old will assist the Jiangsu governor in local technological and educational development.

Xu, a former Nanjing University of Technology vice president and a chemical engineer, had no official experience other than a temporary post as vice mayor of Suzhou, Jiangsu, in 2006.

He was a visiting scholar at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States in 1994 and at Nagoya University of Japan in 2002.