The Hu Changqing case was the first case since the beginning of reform and opening up in which a vice-provincial-level senior official was sentenced to death for economic crimes. Unlike most corruption cases, which are discovered through whistleblowing or audits, Hu Changqing’s downfall stemmed from an almost absurd “disappearance”—a vice governor who left his delegation without authorization during an official event, forged his identity, and vanished, thereby triggering alarm at the highest levels and subsequently unraveling a shocking network of power-for-money deals.
I. The Kunming “Disappearance”: A Vice Governor Becomes “Chen Fengqi”
In August 1999, the World Horticultural Exposition was held in Kunming. August 6 was Jiangxi Pavilion Day, and Hu Changqing, then Vice Governor of Jiangxi Province, led a delegation to preside over the pavilion’s opening ceremony. By this time, Hu Changqing had actually already received orders to be transferred back to Beijing, but he repeatedly refused to hand over his work, ultimately citing the excuse that “the opening of the Jiangxi Pavilion at the Expo was originally part of my portfolio” and that he wanted to “bring things to a close” in Jiangxi.
On August 6, Hu Changqing, wearing a light-colored suit and a red tie, presided over the opening ceremony in front of the Jiangxi Pavilion and was interviewed by CCTV reporters. The next morning, after attending a signing ceremony for an economic and technical project, he suddenly disappeared. Near noon, he called from the airport, saying he planned to go to Shenzhen and would not participate in the remaining events in Kunming. When the person who answered the phone asked whether someone should accompany him, he refused, not even allowing his secretary to go with him.
Coincidentally, at that very moment, someone from a central government department was trying to reach Hu Changqing. Relevant personnel from the Jiangxi provincial government repeatedly tried to contact him, but Shenzhen had no information on his whereabouts. In desperation, the relevant personnel checked the departure passenger list at Kunming Airport, and the result was alarming: Hu Changqing’s name was not on the August 7 departure list from Kunming Airport at all.
This anomalous phenomenon drew the attention of senior Jiangxi leaders. Several hours later, it was discovered that Hu Changqing was in Guangzhou, and by then he had assumed the alias “Chen Fengqi” and checked into the China Hotel. A senior official of higher rank acting secretively and forging documents—Qi Peiwen, a Standing Committee member of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, later said in an interview that from these abnormal behaviors, the central leadership had discerned that this person had serious problems and decided to immediately have the CCDI and the Organization Department review him.
II. Preliminary Investigation and Breakthrough: From a Television Set to Zhou Xuehua’s Safe
Hu Changqing was born in 1948 in Changde, Hunan Province. He joined the military in 1968, joined the Communist Party in 1969, and was transferred to civilian work in 1979. In 1987, he was transferred to Beijing and successively worked at the People’s Insurance Company of China, the State Administration of Taxation, and the State Bureau of Religious Affairs. In August 1995, he was appointed Assistant Governor of Jiangxi Province, and in January 1998, he was elected Vice Governor of Jiangxi Province.
When he first arrived in Jiangxi, Hu Changqing stayed at the Ganjiang Hotel, a provincial government guesthouse, for which the state paid nearly 200,000 yuan in rent annually. According to the responsible person at the Ganjiang Hotel, when Hu first arrived, he often dined alone at the hotel with a standard of two dishes and one soup, but later he returned to the hotel for meals less and less frequently. The first person to give Hu Changqing gifts was a private entrepreneur in Nanchang, who first gave him a television set and a few days later a set of audio equipment. Compared with Hu Changqing’s later bribes of hundreds of thousands or even millions, this was merely “a light drizzle,” but as Hu Changqing himself said in court: “That television set from Li was the beginning of my crime. If I had refused it then and kept refusing, how could I have ended up here today?”
The special investigation team found that a group of individual business owners had gathered around Hu Changqing, the most critical of whom was Zhou Xuehua. Zhou Xuehua was the president of Jiangxi Aote Group and was 27 years old at the time. In March 1997, Zhou Xuehua met Hu through an acquaintance of Hu’s. He first treated him to dinner, then arranged for bowling afterward, and Hu Changqing even promised to give him a piece of calligraphy. One month after they met, Hu Changqing was going to the United States to attend the “World Rare Earth Conference.” Zhou Xuehua felt the opportunity had come and went to Hu’s residence that evening to tentatively offer him 10,000 US dollars. Although Hu Changqing made a symbolic show of declining, he ultimately accepted it.
Once there was a first time, there was a second. In June of the same year, Zhou Xuehua, under the pretext of helping Hu Changqing renovate his residence, gave him another 200,000 yuan. This time, Hu Changqing no longer showed the hesitation of the first time and, smiling, put the money into his safe. Thereafter, until the case was exposed in August 1999, Zhou Xuehua made “offerings” to Hu Changqing almost every month: in July 1997, 80,000 Hong Kong dollars; in August, he arranged a trip to Macao and gave him a Rolex watch worth 168,000 yuan, a platinum diamond ring, and a gold diamond bracelet; in September, while Hu Changqing was studying at the National School of Administration in Beijing, Zhou Xuehua sent someone to Hu Changqing’s home in Beijing to give his wife Sun Jinyuan 300,000 yuan, and more than ten days later went to the school to give Hu Changqing another 100,000 yuan; before the Spring Festival in 1998, 100,000 yuan; before Hu Changqing’s son Hu Guang went to the United States, 20,000 Hong Kong dollars and 5,000 US dollars; in the first half of the year, a diamond tie clip worth 90,000 yuan; between June and July, 50,000 yuan delivered to his wife at his Beijing home; in July, before Hu Changqing went on an inspection tour to Africa, 10,000 US dollars, and after he returned, a ladies’ Rolex watch and jewelry worth 146,000 yuan.
According to verification by the procuratorial authorities, over more than two years, Zhou Xuehua bribed Hu Changqing 19 times, with bribes in cash and goods totaling more than 3.2 million yuan, the largest single instance being 650,000 Hong Kong dollars. Reports indicate that it was from the safe in Zhou Xuehua’s home that the special investigation team found the most important evidence of Hu Changqing’s violations of law and discipline.
Zhou Xuehua not only gave money but also provided women. Through a “mama-san” in Zhuhai, he found prostitutes and had them “flown” to Nanchang, presenting them to Hu Changqing under the guise of “newly assigned female college graduates acting as female secretaries.” In mid-August 1997, Zhou Xuehua arranged the trip to Macao, and Hu Changqing proposed bringing that prostitute along. Zhou Xuehua arranged for the prostitute to accompany him, and he himself brought his mistress as well. The special investigation team also established that private business owners from Nanchang accompanied Hu Changqing to Zhuhai to visit prostitutes, and even crossed the border with prostitutes to gamble lavishly in Macao.
III. The Full Extent of the Bribery Network
As the investigation deepened, the facts of Hu Changqing’s bribery became increasingly clear. The court, after trial, established that from May 1995 to August 1999, while serving as Deputy Director of the State Bureau of Religious Affairs, Assistant Governor of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Government, and Vice Governor, Hu Changqing accepted and solicited money and property 90 times from 18 individuals, including Zhou Xuehua, President of Jiangxi Aote Car Rental Co., Ltd., and Li Weidong, Chairman of Jiangxi Jinyangguang Enterprise Group Co., Ltd., as well as from the Jiangxi Provincial Commercial Storage and Transportation Company, totaling 5.44 million yuan. Of this, more than 2.8 million yuan was in Renminbi, 80,000 US dollars, 940,000 Hong Kong dollars, and valuables worth more than 970,000 yuan. Hu Changqing also took advantage of his position to seek benefits for the relevant bribe-givers on multiple occasions, causing enormous losses to state property.
Hu Changqing’s methods of accepting bribes were quite direct. One method was to use the pretext of handling matters to directly ask others to give him money. Of the 400,000 yuan he accepted from Zhou Xuehua, he called Zhou Xuehua saying he needed money to handle matters and asked Zhou to send someone to deliver it to Beijing. Another method was to hint at power-for-money deals to others. He once said to an individual business owner: “Now I spend a little of your money, but in the future when I become a high official, I’ll just write a note or make a phone call, and you’ll make millions or tens of millions.” After such boasts and hints, some bosses understood and presented him with money and women.
In addition to accepting bribes, the court also established Hu Changqing’s bribery offenses. To build relationships for his promotion and job transfers, from early 1997 to June 1999, he bribed others five times totaling 80,000 yuan. In addition, Hu Changqing could not explain the legitimate source of property worth more than 1.61 million yuan, which clearly exceeded his legal income.
Hu Changqing also had an open “money-making method” in Jiangxi: calligraphy. He had the title of calligrapher, and many enterprises and institutions in Jiangxi Province replaced their signboards with running-script calligraphy bearing “Hu Changqing’s” signature. It was revealed that his calligraphy was worth as much as 80,000 yuan per character and as little as 10,000 yuan. Asking a vice governor to write a signboard was tantamount to asking for a protective talisman. After the case was exposed, the removal of his calligraphy in Nanchang became local news.
IV. Review and Trial
On December 22, 1999, with central approval, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection expelled Hu Changqing from the Party, and the relevant department dismissed him from public office. The Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee separately removed him from his posts as a member of the provincial government Party group and as vice governor. On the same day, Xinhua News Agency announced that Hu Changqing, former Vice Governor of Jiangxi, had been arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes.
On February 1, 2000, the Nanchang Municipal People’s Procuratorate of Jiangxi Province filed a public prosecution with the Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court. On February 13 and 14, the Nanchang Intermediate Court held a public hearing of the case. On February 15, the Nanchang Intermediate Court issued its first-instance judgment: Hu Changqing was guilty of the crime of accepting bribes, sentenced to death, deprived of political rights for life, and subject to confiscation of all personal property; guilty of the crime of offering bribes, sentenced to two years in prison; guilty of the crime of holding a huge amount of property with unidentified sources, sentenced to four years in prison, with the more than 1.61 million yuan exceeding his legal income to be recovered. After combined punishment for multiple crimes, the decision was to execute the death penalty, deprive him of political rights for life, and confiscate all personal property.
Hu Changqing was dissatisfied and filed an appeal. After trial, the Jiangxi Provincial Higher People’s Court held that the first-instance court’s findings of fact were clear, the evidence was conclusive and sufficient, the application of law was correct, the sentencing was appropriate, and the trial procedures were lawful. On March 1, 2000, it ruled to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment, and in accordance with the law submitted it to the Supreme People’s Court for review. On March 7, the Supreme People’s Court issued a ruling approving Hu Changqing’s death sentence and simultaneously issued an order for the execution of the death penalty.
V. The Judgment
At 8:44 a.m. on March 8, 2000, Hu Changqing was executed by firing squad in Nanchang. This was the highest-ranking leading cadre to be executed for economic crimes since the founding of New China, and the first vice-provincial-level senior official to be sentenced to death since the beginning of reform and opening up. Upon learning of the news, Nanchang citizens voiced their praise, and large numbers of people competed to read the court’s notice.