CHINESE Vice President Xi Jinping was appointed yesterday vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, which oversees the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army.

Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou are the other two vice chairmen of the CPC Central Military Commission headed by President Hu Jintao.

Xi, 57, went to work in the countryside of northwest China's Shaanxi Province during the chaos of the 1966-76 "cultural revolution," and became a rural commune Party official.

He later studiedchemicalengineering at the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing and later gained a doctorate in Marxist theory from Tsinghua.

He is the son of former Vice Premier Xi Zhongxun.

A native of the inlandprovince of Shaanxi, Xi Jinping was promoted to governor of the southeastern province of Fujian in August 1999 after a string of provincial officials there were caught up in a graft dragnet.

In March 2007, Xi became the Party secretary of Shanghai. Xi held that job until October 2007 when he was promoted to the Party's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee.

Xi is married to Peng Liyuan, a renownedsinger who was once arguably more popular in China than her husband.

"He's the best," Peng told a Chinese magazine in 2007, describing him as frugal, hardworking and down-to-earth.

"When he comes home, I've never thought of it as though there's some leader in the house. In my eyes, he's just my husband. When I get home, he doesn't think of me as some famous star. In his eyes, I'm simply his wife," she said.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• chemical [´kemikəl] a.化学的 n.化学制品 (初中英语单词)
• premier [´premiə] n.总理 a.首要的 (初中英语单词)
• governor [´gʌvənə] n.总督；州长 (初中英语单词)
• standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
• singer [´siŋə] n.歌手，演唱者 (初中英语单词)
• commission [kə´miʃən] n.委任(状) vt.委任 (高中英语单词)
• communist [´kɔmjunist] n.共产主义者 (高中英语单词)
• northwest [,nɔ:θ´west] n.&ad.西北(部) (高中英语单词)
• studied [´stʌdid] a.故意的；有计划的 (高中英语单词)
• engineering [,endʒi´niəriŋ] n.工程技术；工程学 (高中英语单词)
• inland [´inlənd, in´lænd] a.&n.内地的 ad.在内地 (高中英语单词)
• renowned [ri´naund] a.有名的，有声望的 (高中英语单词)
• countryside [´kʌntrisaid] n.乡下，农村 (英语四级单词)
• commune [´kɔmju:n] n.公社 (英语四级单词)
• provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)
• august [ɔ:´gʌst] a.尊严的；威严的 (英语六级单词)
• frugal [´fru:gəl] a.节俭的，俭朴的 (英语六级单词)