He entered the workforce in July 1976, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in December 1977. In 1987, he was despatched to the Ministry of Finance, becoming a secretary for the then minister Liu Zhongli in 1992. In 1993, he became deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants, but having held the position for only one year. He became the deputy director of the General Office of the Ministry of Finance in 1994, rising to director in July 1998. He rose to become assistant minister in September 2003 and vice minister in October 2005.[2]