Ai Wenli (; born March 1955) is a former Chinese politician who served as the Vice-Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

. Previously, he served as the head of the Propaganda Department of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

Committee and the Mayor of

Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang (; ; Mandarin: ), formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang, is the capital and most populous city of China’s North China's Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about southwest of Beijin ...

. He was placed under investigation by the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest internal control institution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), tasked with enforcing internal rules and regulations and combating corruption and malfeasance in the par ...

and the

National Supervisory Commission National Supervisory Commission of the People's Republic of China is the highest anti-corruption agency of the People's Republic of China, at the same administrative ranking as Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate. Its opera ...

shortly after his retirement. Ai is the first leader of vice-ministerial level to spontaneously hand himself in to the anti-corruption agency of China after the implementation of Supervision Law in March 2018.

Career

Ai was born in March 1955, and graduated from Tangshan Regional Business School (). In 1971 he became a worker on a farm. Later he served as the County Head of Tanghai County, the Head of the Propaganda Department of the CCP

Tangshan Tangshan () is a coastal, industrial prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei province. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province and the northeastern part of the North China Plain. It is located in the central area of the Boha ...

Committee, the director Bureau of Land Reclamation of Hebei, the Deputy Secretary and Head of the Organization Department of the CPC

Committee, the Mayor of

Chengde Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by t ...

, and the Secretary of the CPC Chengde Committee. During the Sanlu scandal in 2008, Ai was appointed as the Party Deputy Secretary and the Mayor of Shijiazhuang. In 2011, he was appointed as the Head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Hebei Committee, until September 2015. He was appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the

in 2015, and he retired in January 2018. In July 2018, Ai turned himself in to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervisory Commission.

Investigation

On July 31, 2018, Ai Wenli was placed under investigation by the

, the party's internal disciplinary body, and the

, the highest anti-corruption agency of the People's Republic of China, for "serious violations of regulations and laws". According to the report, he turned himself in. He was expelled from the Communist Party on October 19. On December 27, his trial was held at the Intermediate People's Court of Suzhou. He was accused of abusing his powers in former positions he held between 2005 and 2013 in Hebei to seek benefits for certain organizations and individuals in the matters of enterprise restructuring, project development and work arrangement. In return, he accepted money and property worth more than 64.78 million yuan ($10 million) either directly or from other connections. On April 18, 2019, Ai was sentenced to 8 years in prison for bribery in

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

, Jiangsu. He was also fined 3 million yuan ($44.7 million).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ai, Wenli 1955 births Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hebei People's Republic of China politicians from Hebei Political office-holders in Hebei Living people Politicians from Tangshan Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party