Cai Qi

Cai Qi
蔡奇
Cai in 2025
Director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party
Assumed office
March 20, 2023
DeputyMeng Xiangfeng
General SecretaryXi Jinping
Preceded byDing Xuexiang
Party Secretary of Beijing
In office
May 27, 2017 – November 13, 2022
DeputyChen Jining
Yin Yong (Mayor)
Preceded byGuo Jinlong
Succeeded byYin Li
Mayor of Beijing
In office
October 31, 2016 – May 27, 2017
(Acting until January 20, 2017)
Party SecretaryGuo Jinlong
Preceded byWang Anshun
Succeeded byChen Jining
President of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
In office
February 25, 2018 – March 13, 2022
IOC PresidentThomas Bach
Preceded byLee Hee-beom
Succeeded byGiovanni Malagò
Chair of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
In office
June 9, 2017 – March 13, 2022
Preceded byGuo Jinlong
Succeeded byPosition dissolved
Personal details
Born (1955-12-05) December 5, 1955
PartyChinese Communist Party (1975–present)
Children1
Alma materFujian Normal University
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese蔡奇
Simplified Chinese蔡奇
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinCài Qí
Bopomofoㄘㄞㄑㄧ
Wade–GilesTs'ai Ch'i
Tongyong PinyinCai Ci
IPA[tsʰâɪ tɕʰǐ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationTsai Chi

Cai Qi (Chinese: 蔡奇; pinyin: Cài Qí; born December 5, 1955) is a Chinese politician, who is the current first-ranked member of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), fifth-ranking member of the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee and the director of the CCP General Office, making him the de facto chief of staff to CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.

A graduate of Fujian Normal University, Cai began his career in his native Fujian province, where he worked at the Fujian Provincial Committee of the CCP. In 1997, he became the mayor of Sanming, serving there until 1999. In that year, he was transferred to Zhejiang to become the mayor of Quzhou, working there until 2002. He worked as the CCP committee secretary of Taizhou from 2002 to 2007, and as the mayor of Hangzhou from 2007 to 2010. From 2010 to 2014, he served as the executive vice governor of Zhejiang.

In 2014 was transferred to Beijing to serve as deputy director of the CCP National Security Commission Office (rank equivalent of minister). From 2016 to 2017, he briefly served as the mayor of Beijing. Between 2017 and 2022, he was the Party Secretary of Beijing. During his tenure. Cai oversaw Beijing's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics. In 2022, he was promoted to the 5th-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee and was elected to the Secretariat. Largely due to Cai's extensive experience working in Zhejiang province, he is believed to be a political ally of CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.