Qiu He (; born January 1957) is a former Chinese politician who spent his career in
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
and
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
provinces. He most recently held the post of the Deputy Communist Party Secretary of Yunnan. He was investigated by 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 ...
's
anti-graft agency in March 2015.
Qiu He was a member of the
12th National People's Congress and an alternate member of the
18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
The 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 18th National Congress on 15 November 2012, and sat in plenary sessions until the communing of the 19th National Congress in 2017. It was formally proceeded by the 17t ...
.
Life and career
Qiu He was born and raised in
Binhai County
Binhai County () is a coastal county under the administration of Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China. In this county, the Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean ...
,
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
. He entered Nanjing Agricultural College (now
Nanjing Agricultural University
Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU, ) is a public research university located in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China. It is funded by the Ministry of Education of China as part of the nation's Double First Class University Plan and former Project 21 ...
) in March 1978, majoring in botanical and plant conservation, where he graduated in January 1982.
Qiu then joined the Jiangsu Agricultural Science Institute. In 1985 he became an office liaison for a 'party clean-up' project in the city of
Huaiyin. The following year he was named deputy director of the Botanical Conservation Institute of Jiangsu (). In 1988 he became governor of
Feng County. He also studied at
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...
. From 1990 to 1996, he worked at Jiangsu Provincial Association of Science and Technology.
Between April 1995 and January 1996 he was sent to the
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
at Harvard University as a part-time student. In 1996 he began working in the city of Suqian as a member of its planning commission, by September he was named vice-mayor. He then became party head of
Shuyang County
Shuyang () is a county in northern Jiangsu province. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suqian. Shuyang sits on the Northern Jiangsu Plains and borders the cities of Xuzhou, Lianyungang and Huai'an to the north, east ...
, where he experimented with a far-reaching anti-corruption campaign, and first explored the possibility of hiring staff to direct public opinion in favour of the government on the internet (a precursor to the
fifty cent party).
In 1998, Qiu instituted a program for local teachers to take part in activities courting private investment in the city of Suqian. This unusual program was covered in the ''Focus Report'' program on the flagship channel of China Central Television. In 1999, Qiu spearheaded another program publicly 'naming and shaming' those caught with petty crimes on local television, earning a special feature report on the liberal ''
Southern Weekend
''Southern Weekly'' (literally ''Southern Weekend;'' ), is a Chinese weekly newspaper based in Guangzhou, and is a sister publication of the newspaper ''Nanfang Daily''.
History and profile
''Southern Weekly'', founded in 1984, has its head ...
'' newspaper. In 2000, he became mayor, and in August 2001 became Communist Party Secretary, the top political position of the city.
In 2001 he began an ambitious program to privatize education in the city.
In January 2006 he was promoted to become
Vice-Governor of Jiangsu, one year later, he was transferred to
Kunming
Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...
, capital of Yunnan province, and served as the Communist Party Secretary.
In November 2011 he was promoted again to become
Deputy Communist Party Secretary of Yunnan, he remained in that position until March 2015, when he was being investigated 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 ...
for "serious violations of laws and regulations". Qiu's former boss,
Bai Enpei
Bai Enpei (; born 8 September 1946) is a former Chinese politician convicted of corruption. Bai served as the Chinese Communist Party Deputy Committee Secretary of Inner Mongolia between 1993 and 1997, Governor and later Party Secretary of Qingh ...
, was also investigated for corruption. His successor as party chief of Kunming,
Zhang Tianxin, was also investigated and demoted for violating discipline. It is unclear if the two cases are related.
On July 31, Qiu was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party at the conclusion of the investigation into him by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The anti-graft agency accused Qiu of "accepting cash gifts, using the convenience of his office to aid in the business operations of his relatives and aid in the promotion of officials... accepted massive bribes." He was also indicted on criminal charges of bribery.
On December 15, 2016, Qiu was sentenced for 14 years and 6 months in prison for bribery.
Qiu's superior,
Qin Guangrong, former party chief of Yunnan, handed himself in to the government in May 2019.
Qiu is an alternate member of the
18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
The 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 18th National Congress on 15 November 2012, and sat in plenary sessions until the communing of the 19th National Congress in 2017. It was formally proceeded by the 17t ...
. He was elected at the 18th Party Congress held in November 2012 but barely met the threshold of support for election. Of the elected members, he placed second last in the vote count, ahead only of
Li Xiaopeng, the son of former Premier
Li Peng
Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Chi ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qiu, He
1957 births
Politicians from Yancheng
Living people
Political office-holders in Yunnan
Nanjing Agricultural University alumni
Tsinghua University alumni
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangsu
People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu
Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party
Vice-governors of Jiangsu
Chinese politicians convicted of corruption