Li Dongsheng (; born in December 1955 in

Zhucheng Zhucheng () is a county-level city in the southeast of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Weifang city and had at the 2010 census a population of 1,086,222 even though its built-up (''or metro'') area ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

) was a Vice Minister of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

's Ministry of Public Security and a member of the

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

. He oversaw the

office An office is a space where an Organization, organization's employees perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize objects and Goals, plans, action theory, goals of the organizati ...

in charge of suppressing the

Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...

and other banned spiritual groups.
Link on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Seen as an associate 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 ...

, Li was investigated for corruption allegations in 2013 and charged with abuse of power and bribery. In 2016, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Career

Li was born in

Weifang Weifang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao to the east, and looks out to the L ...

in December 1955. He graduated from

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

in Shanghai, where he majored in journalism. After graduation, he began working for

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

(CCTV), where he operated cameras and was part of the reporting teams. As a journalist, he focused on politics, presumably putting him in contact with senior figures 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 ...

and its government. He joined the CCP in March 1986. Li worked his way up the administrative ranks of CCTV, and was eventually named vice president. He was instrumental in kickstarting the ''Oriental Horizon'' program, and for much of the 1990s was responsible for overseeing the investigative journalism program ''Point''. In 2000, Li began his foray into the government and was named the deputy head of the

State Administration of Radio, Film and Television The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterpr ...

(SARFT). In May 2002, he was appointed the Deputy Head of the

Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in charge of spreading C ...

. He was the chief official spokesperson of the 17th Party Congress in October 2007. He remained deputy head of propaganda until October 2009, when he was appointed the Deputy Minister of Public Security.

Dismissal and expulsion from the Party

On December 20, 2013, 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 ...

announced that Li Dongsheng was suspected of committing "grave violations of Party discipline and the law," and that he was undergoing investigation. This made Li the second member of the Central Committee to be investigated on corruption charges since the 18th Party Congress, when Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (the first to be investigated was

Jiang Jiemin Jiang Jiemin (, ; born October 1954) is a former Chinese oil executive and senior Communist Party and economic official. He was the general manager and then chairman of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), before being appointed the di ...

). Five days later, on December 25, Li Dongsheng was removed from his positions as deputy of the Leading Group on Dealing with Heterodox Religions, director of the 610 Office, and Vice Minister of Public Security. On June 30, 2014,

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

announced that Li Dongsheng had been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party and transferred to judicial authorities for prosecution. He was indicted on charges of "using the convenience of his position to gain benefits for others, soliciting and accepting huge bribes." On January 12, 2016, Li was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The total sums involved in Li's case were about 22 million yuan, or .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Dongsheng People's Republic of China politicians from Shandong 1955 births Living people Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shandong Politicians from Weifang Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Chinese politicians convicted of corruption Chinese police officers Chinese journalists CCTV newsreaders and journalists People from Zhucheng