Zhou Benshun was born in 1953 in Xupu County, Hunan province.
19 Facts About Zhou Benshun
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Zhou Benshun joined the Chinese Communist Party in September 1971.
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From 1972 to 1975 Zhou Benshun attended Changchun Institute of Geology in Jilin province.
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In January 1985, Zhou Benshun began working at the Policy Research Office of Hunan province, becoming its director in 1994.
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In November 2003 Zhou Benshun was transferred to the central government in Beijing to become the Deputy Secretary General of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, working under Secretary General Wang Shengjun.
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In March 2008, Wang was promoted to President of the Supreme Court, and Zhou Benshun succeeded Wang as secretary general.
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Some overseas Chinese media reported that Zhou Benshun was dispatched to handle the fallout from the crash.
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In March 2013, Zhou Benshun was appointed the party chief of Hebei province, replacing Zhang Qingli, who became Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
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Zhou Benshun was a member of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
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Zhou Benshun reportedly became meek and low-profile, and deferred many decisions to Zhang Qingwei, governor of Hebei and his deputy, even for routine matters such as making closing statements at meetings.
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Over a year later, in December 2014, the Hebei party committee again held a democratic life meeting, in which Zhou Benshun lamented his own inability to realize the goals of the anti-corruption campaign in Hebei province, because he was afraid of upsetting the balance of organizations he oversaw.
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Zhou Benshun was the first sitting provincial party leader to be placed under investigation since the anti-corruption campaign began after the 18th Party Congress.
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Several days earlier Zhou Benshun had visited Beidaihe District, ostensibly to make preparations for the annual Beidaihe Conference of top Communist leaders.
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Zhou Benshun's downfall was a significant political event; prior to Zhou Benshun, the removal of provincial-level party chiefs had only happened three times in post-Cultural Revolution history: Beijing party chief Chen Xitong in 1995, Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu in 2006, and Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai in 2012.
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On October 16,2015, Zhou Benshun was expelled from the Communist Party.
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The investigation concluded that Zhou Benshun had voiced opinions contrary to the spirit of the policies of the party center, frequented private clubs, accepted bribes and leaked state secrets.
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On February 15,2017, Zhou Benshun was sentenced on 15 years in prison for taking bribes worth 40.01 million yuan by the Intermediate People's Court in Xiamen.
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Zhou Benshun is known for his hard-line political views, generally expressing views that the law must be seen primarily as a means to keep society in order rather than as a means for citizens to seek fairness and justice.
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Zhou Benshun said that China would never adopt "separation of powers".