The Princelings,also translated as the Party's Crown Princes,are the descendants of prominent and influential senior communist officials in the People's Republic of China. It is an informal,and often derogatory,categorization to signify those believed to be benefiting from nepotism and cronyism,by analogy with crown princes in hereditary monarchies. Many of its members hold high-level political and business positions in the upper echelons of power.
Bo Xilai is a Chinese former politician who was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges. He came to prominence through his tenures as Mayor of Dalian and then the governor of Liaoning. From 2004 to November 2007,he served as Minister of Commerce. Between 2007 and 2012,he served as a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing,a major interior municipality. He was generally considered the main political opponent of Xi Jinping before Xi became the paramount leader of China.
Bo Yibo (Chinese:薄一波;pinyin:BóYībō;Wade–Giles:Po2 I1-po1;17 February 1908 –15 January 2007) was a Chinese politician. He was one of the most senior political figures in China during the 1980s and 1990s.
Zhou Yongkang is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC),China's highest decision-making body,and the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei) between 2007 and 2012,making him one of the most powerful leaders in China. In that position,Zhou oversaw China's security apparatus and law enforcement institutions,with power stretching into courts,prosecution agencies,police forces,paramilitary forces,and intelligence organs. He was convicted of corruption-related charges in 2014 and expelled from the CCP in the same year.
Jiang Weiping is a veteran mainland Chinese journalist known internationally for his arrest by the Chinese Communist Party in 2001.
Wang Yang is a Chinese retired politician who served as the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 2018 to 2023. He was also the fourth-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party from 2017 to 2022.
Jiang Jiemin is a former Chinese oil executive and senior Communist Party and economic official. He was the general manager and then chairman of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC),before being appointed the director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in March 2013. He was also a member of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
Bo is a set of several Chinese family names,including 薄Bó,柏Bó/Bǎi,波Bō,伯Bó,etc. Among these names,柏is the 213th most common surname in China at present,shared by at least 430,000 Chinese citizens,although when used as a surname it is generally pronounced Bai. None of the other characters pronounced Bo are currently in the top 300 surnames in China,although surname 薄is the 271st surname in the Hundred Family Surnames and is quite well known due to it being the family name of high-profile politicians Bo Xilai and his father Bo Yibo.
Events in the year 2012 in China.
Kong Qingdong is a controversial Chinese academic,author,talk show host,and social commentator. Kong is a prominent Chinese media figure,known for his vulgar and often brusque critiques on political issues and various individuals and groups. Kong has often been portrayed in the media as a figure of the Chinese New Left,calling for a reversal of Chinese economic reforms and a return to Mao-style policies.
Wang Lijun is a Chinese former police chief. He served as vice-mayor and police chief of the megacity of Chongqing. Wang is ethnically Mongol and was born in Arxan,Inner Mongolia. Prior to taking on positions in Chongqing,Wang served as vice-mayor and police chief of Jinzhou,Liaoning,and the police chief of Tieling,Liaoning.
The Wang Lijun incident was a major Chinese political scandal which began in February 2012 when Wang Lijun,vice-mayor of Chongqing,was abruptly demoted,after revealing to the United States consulate details of British businessman Neil Heywood's murder and subsequent cover-up. Amidst rumors of political infighting with Chongqing Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai,Wang arranged a meeting on 6 February at the US consulate in Chengdu,where he remained for over 30 hours. Observers speculated that Wang may have been attempting to defect or to seek refuge from Bo. He then left the consulate of his own volition and was taken to Beijing by agents and the vice minister Qiu Jin (邱进) of the Ministry of State Security. The Chongqing municipal government declared that Wang was receiving "vacation-style medical treatment".
Neil Heywood was an English businessman who worked in China. He was associated with Bo Xilai.
Gu Kailai is a Chinese former lawyer and businesswoman. She is the second wife of former Politburo member Bo Xilai,one of China's most influential politicians until he was stripped of his offices in 2012. In August 2012,Gu was convicted of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood and was given a suspended death sentence,later commuted to life imprisonment in December 2015.
The "Chongqing model" was a series of social and economic policies adopted in the Chinese megalopolis of Chongqing. It is most closely associated with Bo Xilai,who served as the city's Communist Party secretary from 2007 to 2012,though some policies were put in place by Bo's predecessors.
The red culture movement,officially known as Singing revolutionary songs,Reading classic books,Telling stories and Spreading mottos or Singing,Reading,Telling and Spreading is a political movement launched by Bo Xilai in Chongqing,People's Republic of China,as part of the Chongqing model. It is one of Bo's two main political movements,along with Chongqing gang trials. Started in 2008,the movement caused impact around China.
Xu Ming was a Chinese entrepreneur and billionaire. He was the founder of the conglomerate Dalian Shide Group,and the chairman of Dalian Shide F.C.,China's top football club in the 2000s. In 2005,Forbes ranked him the eighth-richest person in China,with an estimated net worth of US$1.05 billion,but his net worth declined to $690 million in 2011. The 2013 Hurun Report estimated his wealth to be around US$490 million,ranking 676th in China.
The Zhi Xian Party,also known as the Chinese Constitutionalist Party in English,is an unregistered political party in China. It was founded in 2013 by people who support the Chinese Communist Party's position as the country's ruling party,but who also seek a return to a Maoist model and an end to what they consider violations of the national constitution by the Communist Party. Bo Xilai was elected the party's "Chairman for Life",because the party considered the trial against him unjust. The party was banned in December 2013.
Xia Junfeng was a street food seller in China who was convicted of murder in 2009 and executed in 2013.
Gǔ (谷) is a Chinese surname. According to a 2013 study it was 158th-most common surname in China,shared by 990,000 people or 0.075% of the population,with the province having the most people with the surname being Henan. The literal meaning of the surname is "valley" or "gorge".
