China's top law-enforcement chief, Luo Gan, was born in 1935 in Shandong Province.

Mr Luo studied engineering at the Beijing Steel and Iron Institute in the late 1950s and joined the Communist Party in 1960.

He then moved to East Germany and spent eight years working in Leipzig steel plants.

On returning to China, Mr Luo continued to work in the steel industry and became Party chief of the central Henan Province in the 1980s.

But it was his friendship with senior leader Li Peng which led to his dramatic rise up the political ranks.

Their friendship was cemented in 1989 when Mr Luo gave instructions to the armed police on behalf of Mr Li during the Tiananmen student protests.

In 1993 Mr Luo was appointed state councillor and in 1998 he joined the Politburo, with responsibility for law and order and foreign and counter intelligence work.

He has implemented China's "strike hard" anti-crime campaign, which has seen the number of executions in the country soar.

According to Amnesty International, 2,468 people were put to death in China in 2001, more than all other countries in the world combined.