BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Sunday appointed Yan Qijun, president of the Shangdong Federation of Trade Unions, new party chief of east China's booming coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong Province, to replace the newly-sacked chief Du Shicheng.

    Yan, 56, a Shangdong native, joined the CPC in January 1972. Yan became party chief of the province's Zibo Municipal CPC Committee in 1997 before assuming presidency of the Shangdong Federation of Trade Unions in 2003.

    Qingdao, a regional international shipping center in Shandong which is the country's most economically prosperous region after the southern Guangdong Province, is the country's second largest foreign trade port and a co-host city of the 2008 Olympic Games.

    The port's throughput is expected to exceed 200 million tons this year, ranking it one of the world's top ten ports. It is also headquarters of some famous Chinese brands such as appliance manufacturer "Haier" and the "Tsingtao Beer".

    According to the CPC announcement on Sunday, Du was suspended from the post of deputy secretary of Shandong Provincial CPC Committee and secretary of the Qingdao Municipal CPC Committee, which Du had assumed since April, 2004.