Cai Qi, a former senior official at the National Security Commission, was appointed acting and deputy mayor of Beijing on Oct. 31 at the 30th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, the legislative body of Beijing. Cai vowed to uphold his responsibilities and work hard to serve the party and the people.

The newly appointed mayor is also an online opinion leader, boasting a Tencent microblog with over 10 million followers. He uses the blog regularly to communicate with Chinese citizens. In fact, Cai is one of the highest-ranking officials to maintain a regular social media presence.

Born in 1955 in Fujian province, Cai holds a doctoral degree in economics. He worked in Zhejiang province from 1999 to 2013, and was promoted to vice governor of Zhejiang in November 2013.