42 Facts About Ling Jihua

Ling Jihua was born on 22 October 1956 and is a former Chinese politician and one of the principal political advisers of former leader Hu Jintao.

Ling Jihua was charged with corruption, bribery, and other misconduct and was sentenced to life imprisonment as part of a larger anti-corruption campaign carried out by Xi Jinping.

Ling Jihua began his career as a functionary in regional branches of the Communist Youth League in his native Shanxi Province.

At the Youth League Ling Jihua worked in its propaganda department and edited its flagship newspaper.

Closely following the footsteps of his patron Hu Jintao, Ling Jihua was promoted to a leadership position in the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party in 1999, and became an important member of the State Commission for Public Sector Reform.

Ling Jihua was initially seen as a promising candidate for promotion to the top leadership at the 18th Party Congress in 2012.

In December 2014, Ling Jihua was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and removed from office.

Ling Jihua was expelled from the Communist Party and tried on charges of corruption, illegal possession of state secrets, and abuse of power, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2016.

In June 1975, Ling Jihua was admitted into the Communist Youth League organization in Pinglu County, and was elevated to deputy secretary of the local CYL committee.

Ling Jihua joined the Chinese Communist Party in June 1976.

In December 1978, Ling Jihua was transferred to CCP's Yuncheng Committee in Shanxi.

From August 1983, Ling Jihua studied at the Communist Youth League Academy, majoring in political education.

In July 1985, Ling Jihua worked in the political theory section of the propaganda department of the Communist Youth League.

From June 1988, Ling Jihua served in various posts in CYL, mostly as part of the CYL Secretariat and the CYL General Office.

Ling Jihua served as editor-in-chief of Chinese Communist Youth League, the primary theory publication of the CYL, and between 1994 and 1995, and the CYL's chief of propaganda.

In December 1995, after having served in CYL for over ten years, Ling Jihua was transferred to General Office of the Chinese Communist Party, and continued his work in political theory.

Between 1994 and 1996 Ling Jihua obtained an "on-job master's degree" in commercial management at Hunan University.

In December 1999, Ling Jihua was appointed as deputy director of General Office.

On 19 September 2007, Ling Jihua was promoted to become Director of General Office of the Chinese Communist Party, the nerve center of the party that was in charge of all manner of administrative activities of the party's central authorities, including communications and leaders' scheduling and agendas.

Ling Jihua became a Secretary of the Central Secretariat, in charge of the implementation of tasks set forth by the party's Politburo.

Reportedly, Ling Jihua, after viewing the body of the driver at the morgue, denied it was his son.

Ling Jihua was said to have mobilized staff from the Central Security Bureau, an organ in charge of national leaders' security which reported into the General Office, to cover up the crash.

Chinese media reported that Ling Jihua had contacted Zhou Yongkang, then chief of the powerful Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, to reach unspecified "political deals" in exchange for assistance on covering up the death of his son.

On 1 September 2012, prior to the transfer of power between Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping at the pivotal 18th Party Congress, Ling Jihua was abruptly transferred from his position as General Office chief to become head of the United Front Work Department, an organ considered to be of less importance.

At the 18th Party Congress held in the fall of 2012, Ling Jihua did not gain a seat on the Politburo as expected, nor did he retain his position as Secretary of the Secretariat; this signalled that Ling Jihua was excluded from all the major power organs of the party.

In March 2013, Ling Jihua was elected as one of the vice-chairmen of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, barely holding onto his status as a "national leader".

Ling Jihua was officially placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on 22 December 2014, and dismissed from his position as United Front Work Department head about a week later.

Several weeks prior to the announcement of the investigation, Ling Jihua continued to make appearances on state television in his positions of CPPCC Vice Chairman and United Front chief.

Ling Jihua was one of the highest-profile targets of the anti-corruption campaign following the 18th Party Congress spearheaded by Party General secretary Xi Jinping and central discipline chief Wang Qishan.

Ling Jihua was the second sitting "national leader"-level figure to be investigated by the party's anti-graft agency, after CPPCC Vice-chairman Su Rong.

On 20 July 2015, Ling Jihua was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, and was arrested to face criminal proceedings.

Ling Jihua's case received significant media attention, since he was the most prominent political figure expelled from the party since criminal proceedings were initiated against former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang.

On 4 July 2016, after a closed-door trial, Ling Jihua was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ling Jihua was convicted on charges of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power.

The conviction stated that Ling Jihua had sought to use his influence to advance the interests of senior regional officials Li Chuncheng, Pan Yiyang, and Bai Enpei; all three had fallen under the axe of the anti-corruption campaign though their links to Ling Jihua were unclear prior to the conviction.

Ling Jihua Gu was said to have solicited bribes worth some 6.5 million yuan from Wei Xin, a senior executive of Founder Group.

Ling Jihua was an alternate of 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, a full member of 17th and 18th Central Committees, and a member of the 17th Central Secretariat.

Ling Jihua was expelled from the 18th Central Committee at the Fifth Plenary Session in October 2015.

Ling Jihua is married to Gu Liping, the former director-general of Youth Business China, a non-profit program that aims to promote youth entrepreneurship that is headquartered in Beijing.

Ling Jihua Gu died in March 2012 at the age of 23 in the aforementioned Ferrari crash.

Ling Jihua's second eldest brother, Ling Jihua Zhengce, was a provincial-level politician in Shanxi Province until he was placed under investigation in June 2014.

Ling Jihua's younger brother, Ling Jihua Wancheng, was a businessman and golf enthusiast, who was reported to be under investigation in 2014, but disappeared in October of the same year.