Wuhu City in Anhui Province is a prefectural level municipality in Anhui Province with a population of 3.8 million. Wuhu has 11 deputy mayors in its city government, far surpassing the average number of staff for a city of Wuhu’s size. After the unusually high number of deputy mayors in Wuhu was called into question, the Wuhu government changed its website information; it removed 3 deputy mayors from the list on the website. Even so, the reporter found that, about 10 days ago, 2 of them used their current title to participate in activities; they gave no indication that they no longer held the title of deputy mayor.
Professor Wang Yukai from the China National School of Administration (CNSA) told the reporter that 11 deputy mayors seems to be too many. Professor Wang said that it’s quite widespread for (local) governments to employ too many staff in the deputy position, particularly in the deputy secretary position. An example of this is that, two years ago, there were 9 deputy mayors and 20 deputy secretaries in Tieling City in Liaoning Province.
Source: Nanfang Daily, June 6, 2012
http://nf.nfdaily.cn/nfdsb/content/2012-06/06/content_47401559.htm