Li Qiang (Chinese: 李强; pinyin: Lǐ Qiáng; born July 1959) is a Chinese politician who is the eighth premier of China. He has been elevated to the second-ranking member on the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in October 2022. From 2017 to 2022, Li was the party secretary for Shanghai, where he pursued pro-business policies and handled the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Li is considered part of the New Zhijiang Army, the party faction of Xi Jinping, the CCP general secretary and top leader since 2012. The close relationship started in the mid-2000s when both held party positions in Zhejiang Province. Li is generally regarded by observers as pro-business and has voiced support for economic reforms.

Li was born in the city of Rui'an, Zhejiang, in July 1959 in his maternal grandfather's house. Li's father, Li Xiju (李锡局), came from a poor family in Dong'ao Village, Caocun Town and worked as a government clerk and cadre when he grew up. His mother, Ruan Xiulian (阮秀莲), was from the township of Mayu (马屿镇), Rui'an, and made a living by selling pork when she was young. In his youth, Li was cared for by his maternal grandmother and other elders. He finished primary and secondary school in Mayu. He became a worker in the Irrigation Pump Station of Mayu in July 1976 at the age of 17 after graduating from secondary school, working there until 1977, and worked in the Third Tool Factory of Rui'an from 1977 to 1978.

Li Qiang studied agricultural mechanization at the Ningbo Branch of Zhejiang Agricultural University from 1978 to 1982. He studied sociology by correspondence at the private China Sociology Correspondence University (中国社会学函授大学; defunct in 2021) in Beijing from 1985 to 1987.

Li attended Zhejiang University for on-the-job graduate studies in management engineering from 1995 to 1997 and the Central Party School for on-the-job graduate studies in world economics from 2001 to 2004. He attended Hong Kong Polytechnic University from 2003 to 2005 and received an executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) in 2005.

Li joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in April 1983. He worked as a clerk at the Rui'an County Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) from 1982 to 1983, and later as the secretary of the committee from 1983 to 1984. He then served in progressively senior roles in the provincial department of civil affairs. He first served as the deputy division head and then division head of the Rural Relief Division of the Zhejiang Provincial Civil Affairs Department from 1984 to 1991. He then served as the director of the Civil Affairs Department's Personnel Division from 1991 to 1992, and finally as the deputy head of the Civil Affairs Department from 1992 to 1996.

In 1996, he became a member of the Party Standing Committee of the prefecture-level city of Jinhua and the Party secretary of the city of county-level city of Yongkang (which is part of Jinhua). In 1998, he was reappointed as the deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Government's General Office. In 2000, he became the director and party secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Government's Bureau of Administration for Industry and Commerce.

In 2002, he was appointed as the party secretary of the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou. By then he was only 43, and was the youngest party secretary of Wenzhou in history. During his tenure in Wenzhou, he supported the development of private businesses in the city. He also gave support to light industry, aiming to create an "international light industry city". In 2004, Li became the secretary-general of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and earned a seat on its Standing Committee in the next year, serving under then Zhejiang's party secretary, Xi Jinping, in charge of administration and coordination. During this time, he became close to Xi, eventually being regarded as a close ally of him. Li was credited with helping draft and clarify Xi's Double Eight Strategy, which listed eight comparative advantages of Zhejiang and eight corresponding actions to improve the province.