https://www.scmp.com/rss/274485/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Journalists at an outspoken newspaper in Guangdong challenged the provincial propaganda authorities yesterday after the paper was forced to run a commentary glorifying the Communist Party and drop an article calling for proper implementation of the constitution. In a rare, open challenge, journalists at the Southern Weekly said they were outraged that the propaganda office ordered changes to the paper's first edition of the new year, just a day before its publication yesterday, without the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1119378/outrage-guangdong-newspaper-forced-run-party-commentary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1119378/outrage-guangdong-newspaper-forced-run-party-commentary?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An exposé yesterday of the huge business interests and personal assets of the descendants of eight dead Communist Party veterans offers a detailed look at one part of China's elite and how its members benefited from the country's economic boom. Bloomberg News released a package of articles and info-graphics that dissects the scale and origins of China's "red aristocracy", tracing the fortunes of 103 people - the so-called Eight Immortals' direct descendants and their spouses. But government... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1113891/heirs-partys-founding-fathers-forefront-red-aristocracy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1113891/heirs-partys-founding-fathers-forefront-red-aristocracy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 An investigative report about China’s most infamous former police officer Wang Lijun by China’s Southern Metropolis Weekly magazine has answered some questions relating to the murder of British businessmen Neil Heywood, whose death precipitated the downfall of China's once powerful and ambitious politician Bo Xilai. Wang Lijun, Gu Kailai, Xu Ming – partners in crime Wang Lijun, then police chief of Jinzhou, Laioning province, met Gu Kailai, Bo’s wife, in 2007 through business tycoon Xu Ming.... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1108128/mysteries-surrounding-heywood-murder-begin-unfold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1108128/mysteries-surrounding-heywood-murder-begin-unfold?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Dec 2012 04:34:22 +0000 A senior district official in Chengdu has alleged that recently disgraced former Sichuan deputy party secretary Li Chuncheng offered bribes for promotion, sold official positions to incompetent candidates and made his wife head of Chengdu's Red Cross after it received huge sums following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Legal Daily yesterday quoted Shen Yong, director of the Chengdu district's United Front Work Department, as saying that Li had offered a huge bribe in the early 1990s to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1103949/chengdu-official-reveals-details-disgraced-cadre-li-chunchengs-graft?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1103949/chengdu-official-reveals-details-disgraced-cadre-li-chunchengs-graft?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A veteran journalist has publicly accused the country's energy chief of forging his résumé, using his family to profit from his position and keeping a mistress. Luo Changping, deputy managing editor of Caijing Magazine, posted on his Sina account the accusations against Liu Tienan, who is director of the National Energy Administration and the deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission. Separately, a Xinhua report has confirmed that the Central Commission for Discipline... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1099400/energy-chief-hit-claims-family-got-big-payment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1099400/energy-chief-hit-claims-family-got-big-payment?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The chairman of China's biggest oil and gas producer has been questioned by the Communist Party's top discipline watchdog in relation to the Ferrari crash in Beijing earlier this year that claimed the life of the only son of Ling Jihua, party general secretary Hu Jintao's former top aide, sources say. They said the probe into China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) chairman Jiang Jiemin focused on a large sum of money - several tens of millions of yuan - that was transferred from CNPC to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1081916/oil-chief-quizzed-over-bid-cover-death-hu-aides-son-ferrari-crash?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1081916/oil-chief-quizzed-over-bid-cover-death-hu-aides-son-ferrari-crash?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A British businessman murdered by the wife of Bo Xilai had informed on the couple for over a year to his country's spy agency, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Neil Heywood shared details based on his close access to the powerful couple, the paper said, citing his friends and current and former British officials. The revelation that Heywood was murdered brought down power politician Bo and revealed rifts among top leaders as they negotiated a once-a-decade power handover set to take... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076572/heywood-was-spying-bo-xilai-mi6-says-wall-street-journal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076572/heywood-was-spying-bo-xilai-mi6-says-wall-street-journal?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The communist party leadership has launched a probe into the alleged family wealth of Wen Jiabao at the premier's request, according to sources. In a letter submitted to the Politburo Standing Committee, the party's top decision-making body of which the premier is also a member, Wen asked for a formal inquiry into claims made by The New York Times. A report on October 26 alleged his family had amassed at least US$2.7 billion of assets during his premiership. The Standing Committee had agreed to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1075169/premier-wen-calls-party-probe-claims-familys-hidden-fortune?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1075169/premier-wen-calls-party-probe-claims-familys-hidden-fortune?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Despite next week's 18th Communist Party congress, attention inside and outside China is increasingly riveted on the forthcoming criminal prosecution of Bo Xilai , the deposed leader whose case has already done so much to upset the party's carefully scripted plans for an orderly transfer of national power. Virtually out of sight, by contrast, is another political prosecution - that of an ordinary farmer named Chen Kegui. He led an uncontroversial life until his uncle, the blind "barefoot lawyer"... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1073348/politics-justice-bo-xilai-chen-kegui?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1073348/politics-justice-bo-xilai-chen-kegui?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 China on Monday warned its critics they were “doomed to failure” as Beijing confirmed that Premier Wen Jiabao’s family had employed lawyers to help fight The New York Times “There are always some voices in the world who do not want to see China develop and become stronger and they will try any means to smear China and Chinese leaders and try to sow instability in China,” said foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei. “Your scheme is doomed to failure,” he added. The official was responding to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1072550/china-critics-doomed-failure-wen-seeks-lawyers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1072550/china-critics-doomed-failure-wen-seeks-lawyers?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Oct 2012 10:30:19 +0000 Navigation: China abroad | China at home | Chinese media   China abroad Asia Society -- China's Investment Surge in the US: Myths, Realities and Lessons Learned On Thursday November 15, Asia Society and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai host a forum on Chinese direct investment into the United States with leading business executives and experts to explore the challenges and opportunities Chinese companies face when investing in the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations -- China’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1072254/xinhua-suggests-bo-xilai-be-given-gang-four-legal-treatment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1072254/xinhua-suggests-bo-xilai-be-given-gang-four-legal-treatment?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:07:36 +0000 A rebuttal by the family of Premier Wen Jiabao following a New York Times report about his family's wealth has cast a spotlight on lawyers from two of China's top law firms. The family's two legal representatives are best known for their work in corporate and commercial law. Bai Tao is a partner with the Beijing-based Jun He Law Offices and she specialises in corporate law, intellectual property rights, inbound investment, real estate, anti-dumping, sports law and dispute resolution. Wang... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1072066/wens-lawyers-spotlight-rebuttal-nyt-story?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1072066/wens-lawyers-spotlight-rebuttal-nyt-story?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Lawyers for Premier Wen Jiabao's family last night hit back at The New York Times for its explosive exposé about their wealth - the first time a top Chinese leader has issued a rebuttal to a foreign media report. Two lawyers released a statement on behalf of Wen's family shortly before 11pm denying, among other things, that the premier's 90-year-old mother ever held a US$120 million investment in Ping An Insurance, a central claim of the Times' report. In fact, the lawyers said, Wen's mother,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1071504/wen-family-hits-back-lies-hidden-fortune?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1071504/wen-family-hits-back-lies-hidden-fortune?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Beijing reacted furiously yesterday to an overseas media report that Premier Wen Jiabao's family had accumulated massive wealth during his time in office. "Some reports smear China and have ulterior motives," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in response to a question about The New York Times report, which said Wen's family controlled at least US$2.7 billion worth of assets. Hong declined to comment on the accuracy of the report. The websites of the English and Chinese editions of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070749/beijing-denounces-report-wen-familys-wealth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070749/beijing-denounces-report-wen-familys-wealth?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 State prosecutors initiated investigations against disgraced Bo Xilai yesterday within hours of his formal expulsion from the national legislature. The announcement came less than a fortnight before the start of the five-yearly Communist Party congress that will see a once-in-a-decade transition of power at the top of the party. "The Supreme People's Procuratorate has decided to put Bo Xilai under investigation for alleged criminal offences," Xinhua reported shortly before midnight. Bo was in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070746/prosecutors-announce-bo-probe-after-npc-expels-him?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070746/prosecutors-announce-bo-probe-after-npc-expels-him?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 China’s largely rubber stamp parliament has expelled disgraced former senior politician Bo Xilai, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, paving the way for formal criminal charges to be laid against him. The expulsion removes Bo’s immunity from prosecution as a member of parliament. Xinhua said the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, “announced the termination of Bo Xilai’s post” as the deputy to the parliament. The announcement comes a fortnight before... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070180/bo-xilai-stripped-parliament-seat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070180/bo-xilai-stripped-parliament-seat?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:00:06 +0000 China’s Foreign Ministry hit out at a New York Times report on Friday which claimed that Premier Wen Jiabao’s family had amassed massive wealth during his term in office. “Some reports smear China and have ulterior motives,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in response to a question about the report, which said that Wen’s family controlled assets worth US$2.7 billion dollars from 1992 until this year. The New York Times said on Thursday in a report that the relatives of China’s prime... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070175/beijing-denounces-nyt-report-wen-family-wealth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070175/beijing-denounces-nyt-report-wen-family-wealth?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:53:00 +0000 The two young women at the centre of the Ferrari crash that killed the son of high-level Communist Party official Ling Jihua have been named. In its latest issue, Hong Kong-based news magazine Asia Weekly writes that the two young women in the vehicle when Ling Gu died upon impact after crashing his Ferrari were Tashi Dolma (Zhaxi Zhuoma), daughter of a deputy director of the Qinghai Provincial Public Security Department, and Yang Ji, then a student at China University of Political Science and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1064705/two-women-injured-ling-gu-ferrari-crash-are-named-magazine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1064705/two-women-injured-ling-gu-ferrari-crash-are-named-magazine?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Oct 2012 02:12:43 +0000 Jiao Li , a former close aide to top Communist Party propaganda official Liu Yunshan , has been dismissed as deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) in a sign that he could face party discipline over rumoured links to corruption and sex scandals. His biographical details have been removed from a section on the administration's official website about its leaders. A GAPP official refused yesterday to say when he was dismissed. "But as far as I know he's never... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1063495/top-mainland-press-official-jiao-li-dismissed-amid-corruption-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1063495/top-mainland-press-official-jiao-li-dismissed-amid-corruption-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee is expected to strip disgraced politician Bo Xilai of his NPC membership next week, paving the way for the former high-flier's trial. Xinhua reported yesterday that the NPC Standing Committee would meet from October 23 to 26 and members would review "the membership status of certain delegates". The Politburo expelled Bo from the party late last month and Chongqing's people's congress voted to strip him of his NPC membership. A decision to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1061988/npc-panel-prepares-remove-bo-xilai-post-setting-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1061988/npc-panel-prepares-remove-bo-xilai-post-setting-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The Communist Party's anti-graft chief pointed to the aggressive investigation into the crimes of former Politburo member Bo Xilai as a clear indication of the success of the anti-corruption drive over the past five years. He Guoqiang , head of the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, told a recent meeting of the party's anti-corruption co-ordination group that no effort would be spared in eliminating rampant graft. "We should... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1056673/anti-graft-boss-he-guoqiang-touts-bo-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1056673/anti-graft-boss-he-guoqiang-touts-bo-case?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Months before his fall from power, Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai suspected a plot to poison his second wife and questioned whether his son by his first marriage was involved, a report said on Sunday. The second wife Gu Kailai was herself convicted in August of fatally poisoning a British businessman. The latest revelation in the murder and corruption scandal, which brought Bo down and exposed deep divisions in the ruling Communist Party ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership change, came from... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1055985/bo-xilais-first-wife-calls-gu-kailai-paranoid-over-poisoning-plot?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1055985/bo-xilais-first-wife-calls-gu-kailai-paranoid-over-poisoning-plot?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Oct 2012 10:55:59 +0000 A perception of morality is inseparable from enduring one-party rule by consent. Ever since June 1989, when official corruption prompted students to march in the streets for political reform, corruption, especially among senior officials, has remained an issue for China's leaders. From Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao, the top leadership has repeatedly warned that the legitimacy of party rule is linked to the fight against corruption. As China prepares for a leadership transition, the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1050305/bo-xilai-case-shows-scale-corruption-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1050305/bo-xilai-case-shows-scale-corruption-party?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The leadership's handling of the Bo Xilai saga invites public scepticism about the one-party system and the legitimacy of its rule, some analysts say. But a thorough exposé of the worst scandal in decades could help foster political reform after the new leadership is installed in November, with some saying the latest developments are a sign of victory for the reformist camp. Zhang Lifan, a political affairs analyst, said: "Senior party figures have been convicted of corruption and other... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1050464/fall-bo-xilai-could-boost-progress-political-reform-say-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1050464/fall-bo-xilai-could-boost-progress-political-reform-say-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Hu Chunhua raised the eyebrows of many political observers with how quickly he rose from a staff position with the Communist Youth League in Tibet to become party chief of Inner Mongolia . He now stands a chance of entering the Politburo, after surviving two major scandals that would have cost many top politicians their jobs. Hu, 49, who was once described by state media as unknown to mainlanders, shares a similar background with President Hu Jintao , earning him the nickname of Little Hu... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1046393/scandals-havent-slowed-potential-politburo-member-hu-chunhua?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1046393/scandals-havent-slowed-potential-politburo-member-hu-chunhua?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Having catalysed China’s biggest political scandal in decades, Wang Lijun went within hours from a police chief who commanded fear and respect to a renegade potentially facing life behind bars. It all fell apart one day in February when, having lost favour with his boss Bo Xilai who at the time ran the megacity of Chongqing, Wang fled to a nearby US consulate seeking refuge. American diplomats must have listened in disbelief as Wang revealed to them Chongqing’s dark sides and, most importantly,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1030268/wang-lijun-supercop-party-traitor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1030268/wang-lijun-supercop-party-traitor?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:47:02 +0000 A speeding black Ferrari hit a wall on Beijing's North Fourth Ring Road in the early hours of March 18, then rebounded and crushed a railing on the other side of the road. A half-naked man in his 20s died immediately and two young women - one naked, one semi-naked - were seriously injured. Photos of the wreckage circulated online and many internet users took it as another drink-driving accident involving the "second-generation rich". People speculated that the young man, reportedly surnamed Jia,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1028489/exclusive-how-crash-cover-threatens-career-hus-top-aide?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1028489/exclusive-how-crash-cover-threatens-career-hus-top-aide?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The crash of a black Ferrari on Beijing’s North Fourth Ring Road involved far more than sex, a fast car and a playboy. It also put the political career of Ling Jihua, President Hu Jintao’s top aide for more than two decades, at stake. In the early hours of March 18 – just three days after the Communist Party sacked Bo Xilai as party chief of Chongqing – a speeding Ferrari smashed into a wall, rebounded and crushed a railing on the opposite side of the road. One naked body and two half-naked... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1028268/black-ferrari-playboys-death-and-political-fallout-hu-jintaos-top-aide?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1028268/black-ferrari-playboys-death-and-political-fallout-hu-jintaos-top-aide?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Sep 2012 10:06:26 +0000 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,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1019581/gu-kailai-high-flying-lawyer-who-descended-murder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1019581/gu-kailai-high-flying-lawyer-who-descended-murder?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000