SHIJIAZHUANG -- Zhao Kezhi was elected secretary of Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on Friday.

Zhao was elected to the post at the first plenary meeting of the ninth CPC Hebei Provincial Committee.

Born in 1953, Zhao is a native of Laixi, east China's Shandong Province, and he joined the CPC in 1975.

He served as Party chief of Guizhou Province before he was appointed Party chief of Hebei Province in July 2015.