Song Xiuyan, once China's youngest provincial governor, has been elected first secretary of the secretariat and vice president of the All-China Women's Federation, a national organization to protect women's rights and interests.

Song, 55, had served as governor of northwestern Qinghai Province since 2005 and resigned from the post on January 12 of this year. She is the second female governor in China, following Gu Xiulian who was governor of eastern Jiangsu Province between 1983 and 1985.

A former railway worker, Song had worked for 27 years in Qinghai, which is located on the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters. On January 22, 2005, she was elected governor of the province at the age of 49.