China's State Council has appointed Gan Lin, currently deputy minister of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), to head the anti-trust bureau, the human resources ministry said on Monday, as the government steps up a campaign to rein in big corporations. 

In the November 15 statement announcing her appointment, SAMR’s anti-trust unit was also for the first time referred to as the National Anti-Monopoly Bureau. The change in name and seniority of the official in charge could herald an upgrade in the anti-trust bureau's status. Gan Lin rose to prominence earlier this year for her role in the country’s anti-monopoly campaign.

Gan Lin, 58, a native of Xiangyin country, Hunan province, has a doctoral degree and a PhD in agronomy obtained from the Department of Horticulture of Huazhong Agricultural University. She has worked in Hunan for a long time, serving as a lecturer in the Department of Horticulture of Hunan Agricultural University, a professor, a PhD supervisor, and head of the Department of Horticulture of Hunan Agricultural University. In 2001, she became the deputy director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Agriculture, and was promoted to the deputy governor of Hunan two years later. In March 2011, Gan Lin was transferred to serve as Deputy Director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China. In December 2017, she concurrently served as Vice Chairman of the Zhi Gong Party Central Committee.

Gan had also conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Nottingham in the UK and the Potato Research Center (PRC) of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) for three years.