25 Facts About Tong Mingqian

Tong Mingqian was removed from office in December 2013 and placed under investigation by the Communist Party's anti-graft agency.

Tong Mingqian was deemed to have been negligent during the process, having "failed to conduct a thorough investigation on election abuses".

Tong Mingqian was dismissed from all his posts and expelled from the Communist Party in 2014.

Tong Mingqian was convicted on charges of dereliction of duty, and sentenced to five years to prison.

Tong Mingqian was born in Baoqing County, Heilongjiang on June 23,1958, which traces his ancestry to Changsha, Hunan.

Tong Mingqian became involved in politics in October 1975 and he joined the Chinese Communist Party in April 1979.

In November 1980, Tong Mingqian was transferred to Lianyuan to work as an officer at Lianyuan Steel.

In December 1983, Tong Mingqian was promoted to become the Deputy Party Secretary of Loudi, a position he held until December 1986.

Tong Mingqian received his Master of Engineering degree from Hunan University in December 1993.

Tong Mingqian served as the head of Hunan provincial party Communications Department between November 1991 to July 1993, the Deputy Secretary of the Communist Youth League provincial organization between July 1993 to August 1997.

In September 2000, Tong Mingqian was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture; he then was promoted to Party Secretary in February 2003.

Tong Mingqian served as the Party Secretary of Shaoyang between March 2008 to February 2012, and the Party Secretary of Hengyang between February 2012 to April 2013.

In January 2013, Tong Mingqian was elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a largely ceremonial legislative consultation body.

On December 18,2013, Tong Mingqian was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for "serious violations of laws and regulations".

Several days later, Tong Mingqian was dismissed from his position as Vice-Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

On January 2,2014, Tong Mingqian was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, then taken into custody for judicial proceedings.

Tong Mingqian's case is unique compared to other officials who have been accused of corruption since the 18th Party Congress in that the initial investigation did not explicitly state Tong Mingqian was involved in the scandal itself, but only that he was negligent.

Nevertheless, after the CCDI's investigation concluded, Tong Mingqian was said to have broken the law and his case was forwarded to prosecution authorities for further processing.

Tong Mingqian's case sent a signal that "turning a blind eye" to abuses can result in just as severe of discipline as actively engaging in abuses.

Tong Mingqian was charged with dereliction of duty by the Beijing Intermediate Procuratorate in August 2014.

Specifically, the prosecution asserted that Tong Mingqian had been informed about the vote-buying scheme from four separate delegates at the municipal congress but consciously avoided conducting an investigation.

The facts of the case mentioned that Tong Mingqian held several election preparatory committee meetings which paid lip service to following election laws and regulations generally, but did not discuss any specific abuses.

On June 4,2018, Tong Mingqian was reduced penalty for 6 months, and he was released from prison on June 30.

Tong Mingqian became the first official of sub-provincial rank to be released following the ascension of Xi Jinping at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Tong Mingqian has a sister, Mingrang, who is a senior official of the Hunan Development and Reform Commission, an agency with broad powers over the provincial economy.