(XINHUA)

Hao Ping, Vice Minister of Education of China and representative to the executive board of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was elected president of UNESCO's 37th General Conference for a two-year mandate on November 5.

The appointment made him the first Chinese representative elected to chair the supreme governing body of UNESCO.

Hao, 54, served as vice president of Peking University from 2001 to 2005 and president of Beijing Foreign Studies University from 2005 to 2009. He obtained a master's degree in history from the University of Hawaii and holds a Ph.D in international relations.