Based on biographical data on more than 2,500 individuals in China's thirty provincial units from the beginning of the People's Republic in 1949, this is the most comprehensive and systematic treatment of China's provincial leaders ever published. The study presents detailed accounts of four categories of provincial leaders - party secretaries, deputy party secretaries, governors, and vice governors - including age, gender, nationality, hometown, education, party membership, and length of membership. It also traces the careers of these leaders in terms of promotion, demotion, transfer, and retirement. And using sophisticated statistical analysis, it links the political mobility of these leaders to the economic performance of their provincial units.