Chen Liangyu is a politician of the People's Republic of China from the ruling , and the disgraced , or party chief. He was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, and has worked in Shanghai for his entire public life. Known to be a prominent member of the Shanghai clique, and a close ally of former president Jiang Zemin and a formidable rival to the Hu Jintao administration, Chen was dismissed in September 2006 for alleged corruption charges related to the misuse of money in Shanghai's social security fund.
Rise to power
He graduated from the People's Liberation Army Institute of Logistics Engineering, where he had majored in architecture. He had two years of experience working in the military between 1968-1970. He joined the Communist Party of China in April 1980. He worked as one of the cadres at the Pengpu Machinery Factory for the early 1980s, earning his way up to become the CPC Secretary for Shanghai's Electronic Appliances Bureau. He was on sabbatical at the University of Birmingham on public administration while holding the position of District Governor for Huangpu District in Shanghai.
Chen was promoted to be Deputy Mayor of Shanghai in 1996, concurrently holding the CPC Vice-Secretary position. As then President Jiang Zemin made his political manoeuvers before the in 2002 to strengthen the Shanghai power base with his loyalties, Chen became the beneficiary, replacing then Mayor Xu Kuangdi, becoming Mayor of Shanghai in late 2002, and in February 2003. He was therefore granted membership in the of the . As an ally of former President Jiang Zemin, Chen was to keep Jiang's Shanghai base of power while Hu Jintao was given all official positions of power. Chen is believed to be linked to real estate magnate and banker Zhou Zhengyi in the Shanghai Real Estate scandals, where residents were forced to relocate for new housing developments where old style apartments were being demolished to build modern-style condominiums.
Along with Mayor Han Zheng, Chen continued the CPC's path on reform, and during his leadership Shanghai was selected as the host city for Expo 2010. Chen is officially credited with dramatically increasing the size and efficiency of Shanghai's public transportation network. Shanghai's increasing real estate prices has plagued the city since 2002, and rose over 200% during Chen's term in office as the city's Party Chief, as ordinary Shanghai citizens found it increasingly difficult to find a place to live. The real estate network has a known history of being monopolized. The government has attempted to assert control, but because of the inevitable link between the government and private businesses, many underhand deals were cut, and Chen was implicated in many of these affairs. Chen also held major interests in the Shanghai Shenhua football squad, attending all of their home matches and even supervising certain practices.
Legacy in Shanghai
His image in the city during his tenure as Mayor was fairly divisive. He initiated a series of gigantic projects to be finished in time for Shanghai's hosting of the 2010 World Exposition, including shipping 128,000 tons of sand to create a beach in Shanghai's suburbs, building a $209 million world-class tennis complex and a $300 million Formula One circuit racetrack. His most controversial project was the proposed Shanghai-Hangzhou mag-lev train. Opponents of Chen have painted him as corrupt and with a short temper, being despotic during Municipal Committee meetings which he chaired. Supporters of Chen credit him with openness, and see him as a progressive leader crucial to Shanghai's development on the international scene. Neutral observers generally saw Chen as an effective local administrator in Shanghai but impeded nationwide equalization as well as macroeconomic controls .
During his term, Chen sold massive amounts of land to his brother for resale over ten times the original price. He was also known to have kept two long-term mistresses over his tenure as Mayor and Party chief, as well as sexual relationships with staff at hotels he stayed at, often returning their favours with positions in the city. One of his mistresses was allegedly pregnant three times, but all were aborted under Chen's request . The mistresses lived in mansions, one of which was provided for by Zhou Zhengyi, Shanghai's real estate magnate.
Chen's son, Chen Weili, was made an executive of the Shanghai Shenhua football club shortly after graduating from university.
Dismissal and Jail Sentence
Through Chen's statements at municipal meetings as well as his vision for Shanghai's development, Chen seems to be opposed to the Communist Party's long-held convention that "Marxism serves as the guiding scientific principle". Rather, Chen was more focused on relying upon "all forms of science". As a result, Chen was ideologically at odds with the Hu-Wen Administration in Beijing.
On September 25, 2006 he was fired as party secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC and suspended from his posts of member of the and member of the for his alleged involvement in a social security fund scandal, where money was siphoned off from Shanghai's social security fund, which manages more than 10 billion in assets. A hundred-strong team from Beijing has been sent to Shanghai to investigate the matter. Two days before he was announced to be fired, he and Mayor Han Zheng went to Beijing together to meet Hu Jintao. However, only Han Zheng came back to Shanghai. He returned at 3 a.m. and rallied an official meeting to deliver the Central Government's decision that Chen was suspended because of the scandal and he was the acting party chief from then on. Other corruption charges were:
"helping further the economic interests of illegal business people"
"protecting staff who severely violated laws and discipline"
"furthering the interests of family members by taking advantage of his official posts"
Following Chen's dismissal, Han Zheng, the current Mayor of Shanghai, has become acting secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC, according to a decision of the CPC Central Committee.
Although Chen's corruption charges may indeed be legitimate, it is likely that the dismissal had political reasoning, as Chen is not the only Chinese official who has a history of misusing public funds. Chen was a protégé of former President Jiang Zemin and a senior member of the . Chen clashed with Wen Jiabao knowingly at a meeting of the Central Committee in Beijing. He was deemed a serious political rival to Hu Jintao. Chen is the highest level Chinese official to be fired since former Beijing party secretary Chen Xitong in 1995, and who was sentenced to 16 years in prison but released on medical parole in 2006 after serving eight years of his sentence. The two-month-old scandal "has already led to the removal and detention for questioning of the city's labor chief, a district governor and several prominent businessmen. The ranks of those detained in the Shanghai probe include executives in Shanghai's biggest industrial conglomerate as well as well-connected city officials."
The BBC reports that "There has been a continuing power struggle between Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao ... Mr Chen's dismissal is being widely interpreted as Hu Jintao strengthening his position both within the party and the country as a whole."
In July 2007 Chen was expelled from the Communist Party of China and handed over to judicial authorities. The speed by which the proceedings have taken place is much quicker compared to the judicial proceedings of Chen Xitong. Chen Liangyu was sent to house arrest in Qinhuangdao, Hebei, where he lived in a mansion, and spent most of his time playing cards and reading. Servers gave him menus for him to order dishes every meal. Since then Chen has been moved to Qincheng Penitentiary in Beijing.
Chen's trial began in late March 2008. He was represented by Beijing lawyers Gao Zicheng and Liu Limu. He faced three charges. Namely, embezzlement, misuse of official powers, and unceremonious behavior. At the end of the court session on March 25, 2008, Chen stated "I am sorry to the party, the people of Shanghai, and my family.
On April 11, 2008, Chen, 61, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for accepting $340,000 in bribes and abusing power, specifically, for stock manipulation, financial fraud and his role in the city pension fund scandal, at the No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, Tianjin.
Many Chinese citizens were incensed by the leniency of the sentence delivered to Chen and believe he should have been sentenced to death. According to China's criminal code, the punishment for accepting bribes over 100,000 yuan is 10 years in prison to death. Having taken bribes worth 2.39 million yuan, it is suggested he should have received the equivalent of several death penalties. ''Asia Times Online'' reporter Wu Zhong speculated that former leader Jiang Zemin may have used his power to influence the verdict, citing an academic article he wrote about China's energy problem at the time of Chen's trial as an attempt to send a message that he is still politically influential.
Career timeline
1963.08 - 1968.08 People's Liberation Army Institute of Logistics Engineering
1968.08 - 1970.09 People's Liberation Army 6716 Squadron
1970.09 - 1983.03 Shanghai Pengpu Machinery Factory worker, estimator, capital construction branch vice-section chief
1983.03 - 1984.03 Shanghai Pengpu machine factory Deputy Plant Manager, Shanghai Metallurgy Mining Machinery Company party committee assistant deputy Secretary
1984.03 - 1985.01 Shanghai Electric Appliance Company party committee Secretary
1985.01 - 1987.02 Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Assistant Commissioner, bureau chief
1987.02 - 1992.10 Shanghai Huangpu district party committee Assistant Deputy Secretary, District Magistrate
1992.10 - 1992.12 Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Assistant Deputy Secretary-General
1992.12 - 1996.10 Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Assistant Deputy Secretary
1996.10 - 2001.12 Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Assistant Deputy Secretary, Deputy Mayor
2001.12 - 2002.02 Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Assistant Deputy Secretary, Acting Mayor
2002.02 - 2002.10 Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Assistant Deputy Secretary, Mayor
2002.10 - 2002.11 Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary, Mayor
2002.11 - 2003.02. Central Political Bureau committee member, Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary, Mayor
2003.02 - 2006.09 Central Political Bureau committee member, Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary
2006.09.25 - Removal from all positions pending investigation on corruption and abuse of power charges
''Source : People.com.cn''
Sources and notes
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