Yuan Baojing (; 16 February 1966 – 17 March 2006) was a Chinese billionaire from

Liaoyang Liaoyang () is a prefecture-level city of east-central Liaoning province, China, situated on the Taizi River. It is approximately one hour south of Shenyang, the provincial capital, by car. Liaoyang is home to Liaoning University's College of F ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmo ...

province. He was the president of the Beijing-based Jianhao Group. He was convicted of murder and executed in March 2006, after what appeared to be a feud with Sichuan businessman Liu Han (who was executed nine years later).

Biography

Yuan was raised in a peasant family and made a fortune in Beijing. Upon losing CNY 100 million in futures trading, he believed that his loss resulted from manipulation of the broker by Liu Han, a businessman from

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 t ...

. He offered a former police officer, Wang Xing, CNY 160,000 to murder Liu. Wang in turn hired a contract killer named Li Haiyang. In 1997 February, Li shot at Liu twice in a Sichuan hotel but missed, and was sentenced to life in prison. Wang proceeded to blackmail Yuan, who, with his brother Yuan Baoqi, hired their cousins to murder Wang in 2003. Yuan was found guilty of Wang's murder in 2005 January and was scheduled to die by firing squad on 14 October 2005. However, the day before his execution date, his wife transferred ownership of shares worth CNY 49.5 billion to the government, including shares of an Indonesian oilfield, leading to a stay of Yuan's execution until 2006 March. Yuan was executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

by 2006 March, along with his brother Yuan Baoqi and Yuan Baosen. Another cousin, Yuan Baofu, received a

suspended death sentence Death with reprieve (, abbr.: ) is a criminal punishment found in the law of the People's Republic of China. According to the criminal law chapter 5 (death penalty), sections 48, 50 and 51, it gives the death row inmate a two-year suspended sent ...

. The case regained attention in 2013 in the wake of the incident of

Bo Xilai Bo Xilai (; born 3 July 1949) is a Chinese former politician who was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges. He came to prominence through his tenures as Mayor of Dalian and then the governor of Liaoning. From 2004 to November 2007, ...

, when media outlets raised speculation about the proceedings of the case and the possible involvement of the former security official

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 ...

, who, through his son Zhou Bin, served as a political patron for Liu Han. The media also questioned whether Yuan was indeed the culprit, and why his brother and cousin also needed to be put to death, raising the possibility that their punishments were influenced by Liu Han and his connection with Zhou Yongkang. In 2015, Liu Han was executed for other crimes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Baojing 1966 births 2006 deaths 21st-century Chinese criminals Chinese male criminals People executed for murder Executed People's Republic of China people 21st-century executions by China People executed by China by lethal injection Chinese billionaires People convicted of murder by the People's Republic of China Chinese people convicted of murder People from Liaoyang