Bo Xilai

Bo Xilai
Bo Xilai
薄熙来
	Bo in 2007
Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing
	In office; 30 November 2007 – 15 March 2012
Deputy	Wang Hongju ; Huang Qifan
Preceded by	Wang Yang
Succeeded by	Zhang Dejiang
Minister of Commerce
	In office; 29 February 2004 – 29 December 2007
Premier	Wen Jiabao
Preceded by	Lü Fuyuan
Succeeded by	Chen Deming
Governor of Liaoning
	In office; 24 February 2001 – 17 February 2004
Party Secretary	Wen Shiyue
Preceded by	Zhang Guoguang
Succeeded by	Zhang Wenyue
Mayor of Dalian
	In office; 20 August 1992 – 22 August 2000
Party Secretary	Cao Bochun; Yu Xuexiang
Preceded by	Wei Fuhai
Succeeded by	Li Yongjin
Personal details
Born	3 July 1949 (age 75); Beijing, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (1980–2012; expelled)
Spouses	; Li Danyu (m. 1976⁠–⁠1984) ; Gu Kailai (m. 1986)
Relations	Bo Yibo (father); Hu Ming (mother)
Children	Li Wangzhi ; Bo Guagua
Education	Peking University (BA); Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (MA)
Criminal status	Convicted by Jinan Intermediate People's Court in September 2013
Criminal charge	Bribery, Embezzlement, Abuse of Office
Penalty	Life imprisonment
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	薄熙来
Traditional Chinese	薄熙來
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Bó Xīlái
Gwoyeu Romatzyh	Baur Shilai
Wade–Giles	Po2 Hsi2-lai2
IPA	[pwǒ ɕí.lǎɪ]
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	Bok6 Hei1-loi4
IPA	[pɔk̚˨ hej˥.lɔj˩]

Bo Xilai (Chinese: 薄熙来; pinyin: Bó Xīlái; born 3 July 1949) 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.

He is the son of former Chinese Vice Premier Bo Yibo. He cultivated a casual and charismatic image in a marked departure from Chinese political convention. In Chongqing, Bo initiated a campaign against organized crime, increased spending on welfare programs, maintained consistent double-digit percentage GDP growth, and campaigned to revive Cultural Revolution-era "red culture". Bo's promotion of egalitarian values and the achievements of his "Chongqing model" made him the champion of the Chinese New Left, composed of both Maoists and social democrats disillusioned with the country's market-based economic reforms and increasing economic inequality. However, the perceived lawlessness of Bo's anti-corruption campaigns, coupled with concerns about the image he cultivated, made him a controversial figure.

Bo was considered a likely candidate for promotion to the elite CCP Politburo Standing Committee at the 18th Party Congress in 2012. However, his political fortunes came to an abrupt end following the Wang Lijun incident, in which his top lieutenant and police chief sought asylum at the American consulate in Chengdu. Wang claimed to have information about the involvement of Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, who allegedly had close financial ties to the two. In the fallout, Bo was removed as the CCP Committee secretary of Chongqing and lost his seat on the Politburo. He was later stripped of all his positions and lost his seat at the National People's Congress and eventually expelled from the party. In 2013, Bo was found guilty of corruption, stripped of all his assets and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is incarcerated at Qincheng Prison.