Dr.Shang Fulin has had a successful and prominent career in China's central bank and commercial bank for many years before presiding over CSRC. He started his banking career in 1973, when he joined the People's Bank of China. While working in PBOC, he had steadily risen through the ranks and served successively as deputy division chief, division chief, deputy director and director of the Planning and Budgeting Department (now Monetary Policy Department). He was promoted to the positions of Assistant Governor and Deputy Governor of PBOC in 1994 and 1996, respectively. From 1996 to 1999, he had taken charge in the operation of monetary policy making and led the design and construction of clearing and settlement system. From 1998 to 2000, he headed China's nation-wide taskforce to solve the Y2K problems of the banking industry and his effective leadership was widely lauded for the successful completion of the Y2K task. In 2000, he was appointed as the president of Agricultural Bank of China and had worked on that post for more than two years.

Dr. Shang Fulin had been focusing his attention on theoretical research and practice in monetary policy and related areas. His major publications include The Situational Analysis on State-owned Commercial Banks (2002), A Study on the Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy (2000), Encyclopedia of Financial Guarantees (1999), China's Success in Controlling Inflation and Its Future Policy Orientation (1997), The Operation, Efficiency and Development of Central Banks (1996), China's Monetary Policy and Credit System of China (1995)