It’s getting tough to be a Chinese mayor

The government’s recently announced target of 7.5% GDP growth for this year should be considered relatively good news for China’s mayors. For it’s the mayors who bear much of the burden of implementing economic policy in China. But things aren’t getting any easier. In fact, they seem to be getting harder these days, as revenues from the sale of land shrink, and mayors find themselves tackling a host of issues associated with rapid urbanization.

Nick Leung, Managing Partner of McKinsey’s Greater China Practice, discussed this topic recently with Haimeng Zhang, Guangyu Li, and Jonathan Woetzel. Haimeng and Guangyu are Partners in Shanghai. Jonathan is a Director and Co-Chair of the Urban China Initiative.