Bo Xilai
Wang claimed to have information about the involvement of Bo and his wife Gu Kailai in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, who allegedly had close financial ties to the two.Facing persistent complaints and petitions from Li, who jepordized his career by publicly accusing him of having an extramarital affair with his Peking University schoolmate Gu Kailai, Bo relocated to Dalian to avoid the controversy.In addition, Bo was an advocate for free enterprise and small businesses, and successfully courted foreign investment from East Asian neighbours such as South Korea and Japan, as well as Western countries.Despite the accompanying economic growth and rise in living standards, Bo's tenure in Dalian has sometimes been criticized as having been too focused on aesthetic development projects such as expansive boulevards, monuments, and large public parks.[19] They commissioned author Chen Zufeng to pen a report portraying Bo as a man who is "as statesman-like as Henry Kissinger, as environmentally conscious as Al Gore, and almost as beloved by the public as Princess Diana.[31] Ethan Gutmann, citing Falun Gong allegations that Liaoning was the epicenter of organ harvesting from practitioners while Bo was governor,[32] suggested that he may have used his involvement as a way of building up his political power.[9] When Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang Zemin as CCP General Secretary in late 2002, Bo's career as a local official ended with his appointment to Minister of Commerce in Premier Wen Jiabao's cabinet to replace Lü Fuyuan, who retired for health reasons.Described as good-looking, articulate and open-minded in his approach to problems,[37] Bo's rise from a municipal official to the central government generated great media fanfare and elevated his status to something of a "political star".Bo maintained a conciliatory but assertive attitude as he attended talks in Washington, D.C.[38] On his trips to the United States, he conducted substantive discussions with his American counterparts and signed agreements on intellectual property, the services sector, agricultural products, food safety, and consumer protection.[40] Whilst some saw this transfer as a 'banishment' from the central government to the hinterlands to keep Bo's perceived arrogance and high-profile antics out of Beijing's view, others considered it a promotion since being the party secretary in one of the four direct-administered municipalities came with an ex officio seat on the Politburo.[37] The transition would be an opportunity for Bo to join the highest echelon of national leadership, likely as a replacement for ally Zhou Yongkang, secretary of the CCP Central Political and Legislative Committee, serving as the head of the party's security apparatus.The Chongqing model was also characterized by massive public works programs, subsidized housing for the poor, and social policies intended to make it easier for rural citizens to move to the city, thus reaping the benefits of urban status.[45] The Chongqing model provided an alternate development paradigm that diverged from the policies preferred by those in the national leadership seen as favouring further reform such as Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.Wen, the former executive deputy commissioner of the Chongqing police force Public Security for 16 years, was tried and convicted of a litany of crimes and sentenced to death in a sensational headline-grabbing trial.Bo won praise for returning the city to what some called China's 'true socialist heritage' by de-emphasizing material wealth, and evoked nostalgia to the social egalitarianism that existed during Mao's time.Just as he had done in Liaoning, Bo ambitiously pursued foreign investment in the city, lowering corporate income tax rates (15% compared to the 25% national average), and sought to stimulate rapid urbanization and industrialization.Wang Lijun, Chongqing's police chief, served as the architect of the state-funded project, which was described in official media as a "comprehensive package bugging system covering telecommunications to the Internet."[79] The system involved wiretaps, eavesdropping, and monitoring of internet communications, and was designed with the help of cybersecurity expert Fang Binxing, known for his pivotal role in the construction of China's Great Firewall.[92] On 6 February 2012, apparently fearing for his life, Wang traveled to the U.S. consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu, bringing evidence implicating Bo and his family in the Neil Heywood murder.Liberal media reacted positively, believing Bo's style of "personality-based rule" was dangerous and regressive, and claiming his downfall signified a "correct orientation" to China's future development.[120] Bo's downfall also affected his ally Zhou Yongkang, who had reportedly relinquished his operational control over Chinese security institutions and lost the right to influence who would succeed him at the 18th Party Congress.[128] The proceedings of the trial were relayed in real time via the court's Weibo account,[129][130] but parts of Bo's testimony, particularly those regarding the threats and mistreatment he experienced during the investigation and his emotional remarks about his wife, were censored.[142] He is thus associated with Jiang's faction,[143] sometimes referred to as the "elitists", that is generally known to favor a model that emphasizes free trade, economic development in the coastal regions, and export-led growth.[144] While Bo was initially identified with the elitist bloc during his time in Liaoning and as Minister of Commerce, during his tenure in the interior city of Chongqing, he adopted a number of populist policies typically associated with the conservative left.[56] He also sought to promote "red culture", and mandated the revival of Mao-era slogans and songs, evoking memories that were romantic to the conservative left, but painful to the liberal right of Chinese politics.[148][149] Bo's policies put him in opposition to the more liberal and reform-oriented faction, particularly Premier Wen Jiabao and Guangdong party secretary Wang Yang, who favored the strengthening of rule of law and a continuation of political reform.But it was this fabricated so-called "12/06 Special Case" that implicated numerous individuals from the Beijing and Chongqing Public Security Bureaus, as well as the Central Guard Bureau, separating father and son as if between life and death.[177] His womanising is said to push his wife, Gu, into relying on a circle of close confidants, including Patrick Henri Devillers, Larry Cheng, Neil Heywood, and Wang Lijun, usually leading to speculation about romantic relationships.[177][184] Jiang Weiping instead claimed that Zhang was forced out of Dalian by Gu and financially compensated by Wu Wenkang, Bo's secretary at the time, after which she studied at the Beijing Film Academy and eventually emigrated overseas.[186] In 2012, an American website Boxun baselessly reported that movie star Zhang Ziyi was paid $100 million to sleep with Bo and other top Chinese officials, a claim that was widely reposted.
Chinese namefamily nameCommunist Party Secretary of ChongqingWang HongjuHuang QifanWang YangZhang DejiangMinister of CommerceWen JiabaoLü FuyuanChen DemingGovernor of LiaoningZhang GuoguangZhang WenyueDalianBeijingChinese Communist PartyGu KailaiBo YiboBo GuaguaPeking UniversityChinese Academy of Social SciencesLife imprisonmentSimplified ChineseTraditional ChineseStandard MandarinHanyu PinyinGwoyeu RomatzyhWade–GilesYue: CantoneseJyutpingAi WeiweiBao ZunxinBo YangChen YiziDu DaozhengFang FangFang LizhiGao ShangquanHe WeifangHu JiweiHu ShuliJin GuantaoLi HonglinLi RuiLi ShenzhiLi YinheLi ZehouLiu BinyanLiu XiaoboMao YushiQin BenliQin HuiWang RuoshuiWang RuowangWang YuanhuaWu JinglianXu JilinXu YouyuYan JiaqiZhang QianfanZhang WeiyingZhao ZiyangZhu HouzeZhu XueqinNeoauthoritarianismChen YuanWang HuningZhang WeiweiJin CanrongEric X. LiGan YangJiang ShigongWan LiWu JiaxiangHu YaobangXiao GongqinZheng YongnianHu QiliHu XijinRong YirenJiang QingYan XuetongWang ZhengweiDaniel A. BellChen KuiyuanZhu RongjiZhou XiaochuanBao TongNew LeftDai JinhuaDeng LiqunGao MoboCui ZhiyuanLi MinqiSima NanSun ZhengcaiWang HuiWang LijunWang ShaoguangWang WeizhongQiu ZhanxuanYue XinZhou YongkangSocialism with Chinese characteristicsBagaturBayanqoluCai QiChen HuanyouChen JinhuaChen LiangyuChen Min'erChen XiChen YunChen ZhiliDeng XiaopingDeng YingchaoGao DiGeng BiaoGu HailiangHe LifengHe YitingHu JintaoHu ChunhuaHu QiaomuHuang Ju