Liu Han (; 25 October 1965 – 9 February 2015) was a Chinese billionaire businessman, the former chairman of the conglomerate
Hanlong Group, with interests in power generation and mining. His assets were officially valued at 40 billion yuan (US$6.4 billion).
He was convicted of murder, running a mafia-style gang, and many other charges, and executed in February 2015.
Early life
Liu Han was born in 1965 in
Guanghan
Guanghan ( zh, s=广汉, t=廣漢, p=Guǎnghàn; formerly known as Hanchow) is a county-level city under the administration of Deyang in Sichuan province, southwest China, and only from Chengdu. The predominant industries are tourism, pharmaceut ...
,
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
province,
the middle child in a family with three sons and two daughters. His father, Liu Zhangke (刘章科), was a veteran of the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, who worked as a secondary school physics teacher after leaving the army. He died in 1990. His mother, Li Wanzhen (李万珍), worked as a street vendor.
Early career and assassination attempt
In the mid-1980s, Liu Han began buying and reselling timber, construction material, and
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
. In the early 1990s, he started to operate gambling dens in Guanghan with his brother Liu Wei. He entered the
commodity market
A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investin ...
in the mid-1990s, trading
soy beans and steel between 1994 and 1997, which earned him hundreds of millions of
yuan.
[
Liu's commodity trading resulted in a dispute with the Liaoning billionaire Yuan Baojing. Yuan lost nearly 100 million yuan and believed that it was caused by Liu's manipulation of a broker. He offered a former policeman, Wang Xing, 160,000 yuan for Liu's life. Wang in turn hired the contract killer Li Haiyang. In February 1997, Li shot at Liu twice in a Sichuan hotel but missed him. Li was captured and later sentenced to life in prison. Wang Xing then repeatedly blackmailed Yuan Baojing, who eventually hired his cousins to murder Wang in 2003. Yuan was convicted of murder and executed in 17 March 2006.
]
Hanlong Group
Liu Han founded Hanlong Group in 1997. In 2000, he moved the conglomerate's headquarters from Mianyang
Mianyang (; formerly known as Mienchow) is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Located in north-central Sichuan covering an area of consisting of Jiangyou, a county-level city, five counties, and thr ...
to Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...
, the capital of Sichuan province.[ Around 2002, he became associated with Zhou Bin, a son of ]Zhou Yongkang
Zhou Yongkang (born 3 December 1942) is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), China's highest decision-making body, and the Secretary of the Central Politic ...
, then Party Committee Secretary
A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...
and top leader of Sichuan.[ He built two ]hydroelectric station
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
s in Ngawa in 2001. He sold the stations in 2005 for 500 million yuan to a British Virgin Islands
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = Territorial song
, song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands"
, image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg
, map_caption =
, mapsize = 290px
, image_map2 = Bri ...
company, which then resold them to a subsidiary of Datang Power for 2.7 billion yuan only two months later.[
In 2009, Hanlong Group bought a controlling stake in Moly Mines, a ]Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
-based Australian mining company. Hanlong also bid $1.3 billion for Sundance Resources, another Australian mining company, but the deal collapsed after Liu Han was arrested in March 2013 on multiple charges.[
Liu Han owned more than 70 subsidiary companies with business in energy, mining, real estate, finance, and securities. His assets were officially valued at 40 billion yuan (US$6.4 billion).][
]
Prosecution and execution
Liu Han and his brother Liu Wei attracted the attention of the central government after a January 2009 shooting at a Guanghan teahouse. Liu Wei allegedly ordered the attack, which killed three men including the rival gang boss Chen Fuwei, who had been recently released from prison. The brothers had allegedly ordered the killing of others, including a villager who led a protest against one of their real estate projects in Mianyang
Mianyang (; formerly known as Mienchow) is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Located in north-central Sichuan covering an area of consisting of Jiangyou, a county-level city, five counties, and thr ...
, a rival gang boss in Mianyang, and an old neighbour in Guanghan.[
Liu Han was arrested in March 2013, only months after ]Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...
became General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, China's top leader. Xi launched an anti-corruption campaign which in its early days targeted Zhou Yongkang
Zhou Yongkang (born 3 December 1942) is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), China's highest decision-making body, and the Secretary of the Central Politic ...
's associates in Sichuan.[ The Liu brothers were tried at the ]Xianning
Xianning () is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Jiangxi to the southeast and Hunan to the southwest. It is known as the "City of Osmanthus".
Geography and climate
Xianning is located i ...
Intermediate People's Court in Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...
province, and sentenced to death in May 2014.[ Han was also deprived of his political rights for life ordered to forfeit all of his assets.] Liu Han was found guilty on thirteen charges, including murder, running casinos and a mafia-like gang, and selling firearms. They appealed to the High People's Court of Hubei, which upheld the original sentences in August 2014.[ Liu Han and Liu Wei were executed on 9 February 2015, along with three associates.][
]
Philanthropy
Until Liu Han's arrest and trial, he was best known as a philanthropist. He gained fame in China in the aftermath of the Great Sichuan earthquake of 2008, during which thousands of children died when their poorly built schools collapsed. In contrast, the school Liu Han built withstood the quake and all of its students survived the disaster unharmed. He also made major donations in the subsequent relief efforts.
Personal
Liu Han had a passion for cars, and boasted that he owned 80 luxury cars. He was an avid gambler who sometimes gambled all night long. During his trial, he said he lost $128 million gambling in Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
, $15 million in the United States, and millions more in Singapore and Australia.[
]
References
External links
Phoenix News special report on Liu Han
Profile
businessinsider.com; accessed 16 February 2015.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Han
1965 births
2015 deaths
Businesspeople from Sichuan
Billionaires from Sichuan
21st-century Chinese criminals
Chinese male criminals
Chinese people convicted of murder
Executed people from Sichuan
Executed gangsters
21st-century executions by China
People from Guanghan
Executed People's Republic of China people
People executed by China by lethal injection
Chinese company founders