According to an article published in Duowei News, the recent power shuffling indicates that Beijing is building a foundation to prepare for the upcoming 19th National Congress in the second half of the year. On April 1, Beijing announced four major changes at the provincial level. They included a new governor for Hainan and Gansu provinces and a new Secretary of the provincial Party Committee for He Longjian and Shandong provinces. The article stated that, based on the statistics that Duowei collected, since January 2016, among 31 provinces, direct-controlled municipalities, and autonomous administrative regions in China, a new Secretary of the provincial Party Committee was assigned in 18 provinces and regions and a new governor was assigned in 28 provinces. As of April 1, there were only 8 Secretaries of the provincial Party Committee and 3 governors left that had not been changed. The article predicted that there could be retirements and other more “exciting and critical” changes to come.
Source: Duowei News, April 1, 2017
http://china.dwnews.com/news/2017-04-01/59808614.html