In 2001, Yu, then 37, was made head of the Guangxi Communist Youth League organization. After taking on the position at the Youth League, Yu took part in further studies at Tsinghua University and also at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2006 he became the Deputy Communist Party Secretary and Mayor of Wuzhou, rising to Communist Party Secretary in 2008, and joining the Guangxi regional Party Standing Committee as its youngest member; a year later, he was named secretary-general of the provincial party committee.
