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Mr Li, General Party Secretary of Jiangsu Province, expressed his pleasure on returning to Cambridge after eight years and addressed a university wide audience on China's vision for “building a harmonious society.”

In his speech, Mr Li spoke about Chinese President Hu Jintao's vision that a "harmonious society should feature democracy, the rule of law, equity, justice, sincerity, amity and vitality."

He detailed the latest development concepts in China today, setting out the challenges facing the province in the 21st century, including urbanisation, the high growth rate of China's economy and the need for industrialisation to save resources and reduce pollution.

Mr Li also expressed his desire to maintain a positive relationship with the UK as the number one destination for overseas Chinese students.

Anne Lonsdale, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and President of New Hall said: “it has been a great pleasure to have Li Yuanchao as our guest, as Jiangsu is one of the leading provinces in China and an adamant supporter of environmental issues.”

Mr Li held various posts in the Youth League of China for many years before moving to the State Council where he became Vice Minister of Culture. In December 2002, he took office as part Secretary of Jiangsu Province and in February 2003 became Chairman of the Jiangsu Provinical People's Congress.

Jiangsu, an Eastern Chinese province, has over 1000 kilometre coast along the Yellow Sea. ̽��ֱ��provice has a population of around 74 million and last year alone produced $160 billion in export alone, including a flourishing IT industry that provides one-third of the world's laptop computers.