Gu Kailai, the high-flying lawyer who descended to murder
Hard-driving lawyer, daughter of a hero and wife of a top leader, Gu Kailai finally upstaged the Communist Party leadership itself
The accepted behaviour for the wives of China's top leaders is to be seen rarely and heard even less. Long gone are the days when Jiang Qing , the wife of Mao Zedong , stirred up chaos within the party through her vociferous bids for power, only to end up jailed for life.
Today, few can name the wives of most leaders. That marks Gu Kailai , a hard-driving lawyer, the daughter of a revolutionary hero and the wife of fallen Politburo member Bo Xilai , as a woman apart.
Thanks to her prominence, her murder trial has upstaged the build-up to China's once-in-a-decade leadership transition, which is expected to be held in Beijing this autumn.
Before her trial analysts said Gu was likely to be blamed for not only her alleged crimes but also her husband's offences. This is very much like Jiang, whom the party blamed for all Mao's mistakes made during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.
Gu's high profile is due at least in part to an ambition virtually equal to that of her once-glamorous husband. She had a successful legal career, winning high-profile cases in the United States, and some fame through her book, Uphold Justice in America, which was made into a popular television series.
Denver lawyer Ed Byrne, whom Gu hired to represent Chinese companies, recalled in his impression of her in The Wall Street Journal in April that she "seemed like the Jackie Kennedy of China". This was soon picked up and republished worldwide, with pictures of her looking slender but vigorous.