Chen Xuzhong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Lu’an Chemical Group Co., Ltd., stands at the helm of one of Shanxi’s flagship state-owned enterprises at a pivotal moment in the province’s energy transition. Appointed by the Shanxi Provincial People’s Government on December 19, 2025, he succeeded the retiring Wang Zhiqing and returned to frontline corporate leadership after several years in provincial united-front and private-economy work. A mining engineer by training with more than three decades of experience across Shanxi’s major coal groups, Chen brings a rare combination of deep operational knowledge, reform-oriented management, and policy insight to the task of building Lu’an into a nationally leading comprehensive energy and chemical enterprise.
Roots in the Coalfields
Born in April 1971 in Yuanping, Shanxi, Chen is of Han ethnicity. He joined the Communist Party of China in May 1993 and began his career two months later upon graduating from China University of Mining and Technology with a degree in mining engineering. In 2008 he earned a master’s degree in mechanical design and theory from the same university while already holding senior posts.
His early years were spent at Datong Mining Bureau’s Majiliang Mine. Starting as a technician in the technical section in 1993, he advanced to technical supervisor of the No. 1 fully mechanized mining team, then served as Party branch secretary of the team. By late 2001 he had become deputy mine manager. In the mid-2000s he played a central role in the development of the Tongxin mining area, successively serving as director of the Tongxin project preparation office and later as chairman of Tongxin Coal Mine Co., Ltd. (and its joint-venture successor with Guodian). These formative years grounded him in both the technical and political realities of large-scale coal production.
Rising Through Shanxi’s Coal Giants
From 2009 onward Chen moved into group-level leadership at Datong Coal Mine Group (later Tongmei Group). He served as deputy general manager, then as a director, member of the Party standing committee and deputy general manager, while also chairing Xuangang Coal & Power. He remained in senior Tongmei posts until early 2017.
In January 2017 he was assigned to Xinjiang as part of Shanxi’s assistance program, serving as deputy commander of the provincial aid-Xinjiang forward headquarters and later as vice governor of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture while retaining his Tongmei roles. The posting broadened his experience beyond pure enterprise management into regional coordination and cross-provincial cooperation.
Upon returning to Shanxi, Chen took the top operational posts at two successive provincial energy giants: Party deputy secretary, vice chairman and general manager of Jinneng Group (November 2018–April 2020), followed by the same positions at Shanxi Coking Coal Group (April 2020–April 2021). At Shanxi Coking Coal he emphasized the need for upstream-downstream collaboration across the coal-coking-steel chain, advocating the application of advanced technology to protect scarce coking-coal resources, raise clean-energy utilization rates, and drive scientific, low-carbon, lean and efficient development of the industrial chain.
United-Front Leadership and Private-Economy Focus
In April 2021 Chen shifted to the provincial Party United Front Work Department as deputy minister and Party secretary of the Shanxi Federation of Industry and Commerce. He later became executive vice chairman of the federation and vice president of the provincial chamber of commerce. Concurrently he held seats as a member and standing committee member of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and as a standing committee member of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.
During this period his public statements consistently stressed strengthening Party leadership over private-economy united-front work, building a “close yet clean” government-business relationship, improving mechanisms for enterprise-rights protection, and guiding private entrepreneurs to focus on their main businesses, operate lawfully, innovate, and contribute to Shanxi’s high-quality development. He highlighted the importance of supporting Shanxi enterprises “going out,” especially along the Belt and Road, through practical policy delivery, risk mitigation and platform-building. In 2023 and 2025 he called for greater attention to standardization, digital and intelligent manufacturing, green development under the dual-carbon goals, and the cultivation of new-quality productive forces across private industries.
Returning to the Helm of Lu’an Chemical
When Chen assumed leadership of Lu’an Chemical Group at the end of 2025, he inherited an enterprise with nearly seventy years of history—rooted in the spirit of Shigejie and transformed from a traditional coal producer into a modern energy-chemical complex. In his first months he has articulated a clear strategic direction: anchoring the group’s ambition to become a nationally first-class comprehensive energy and chemical enterprise group and accelerating the construction of a “3+3+3” industrial pattern.
Speaking at the group’s 2026 model-worker and advanced-collective recognition conference on April 26, 2026, Chen paid tribute to the generations of Lu’an workers whose labor had driven every major leap—from the spark of the Shigejie spirit to the rise of a 100-million-ton coal base and the shift from traditional coal chemicals to modern energy chemicals. He urged the workforce to become guardians of safe and green development, pioneers of the energy revolution and industrial upgrading, trailblazers of reform and efficiency, transmitters of model-worker and craftsman spirit, champions of people-centered development, and practical implementers who turn blueprints into results on the shop floor and in the mine.
In meetings with local governments and research institutions in early 2026, Chen has repeatedly underscored Lu’an’s dual responsibility for energy security and green transformation. He has positioned Changzhi as the group’s primary base for low-carbon transition and pledged intensified investment in clean and efficient coal utilization, coal-chemical development, solid-waste resource utilization, and green power. He has sought deeper collaboration with institutions such as the Huairou Laboratory Shanxi Research Institute and the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, emphasizing the need to extend coal-to-oil and coal-quality conversion technologies and to convert research results into industrial strength. With China University of Mining and Technology he has reaffirmed long-standing ties in scientific research, talent cultivation, intelligent-mine construction and industry-education integration.
A Leader for Transition
Chen Xuzhong’s career arc—from mine technician to group chairman, from coal-field operator to provincial united-front official and back again—equips him unusually well for the dual challenges facing Lu’an Chemical: safeguarding energy supply while driving the shift of coal from fuel toward feedstock, materials and high-value end products. His public remarks consistently return to a few core themes: safety and green development as non-negotiable foundations, innovation and reform as the engines of competitiveness, practical results over rhetoric, and the central role of people—whether model workers, private entrepreneurs or local communities—in achieving shared progress.
As Lu’an Chemical Group enters the 15th Five-Year Plan period with a clear strategic target and an expanding industrial footprint, Chen Xuzhong’s combination of technical depth, managerial experience across Shanxi’s major coal enterprises, and recent exposure to private-economy and policy coordination positions him to guide the group through its next phase of transformation.