Zhao Zhengyong (; born March 1951) is a former politician of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

who served as

Communist Party 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 ...

, Governor, and Congress Chairman of

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

Province. After his retirement, he was placed under investigation for corruption.

Career

Zhao Zhengyong was born in

Ma'anshan Ma'anshan (), also colloquially written as Maanshan, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of Anhui province in Eastern China. An industrial city stretching across the Yangtze River, Ma'anshan borders Hefei to the west, Wuhu to the sout ...

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze Riv ...

Province in March 1951, and joined the

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

in November 1973. He is a graduate of Central South Mining and Metallurgy Institute (now part of

Central South University Central South University (CSU; ) is a national public university in Changsha, Hunan, China. The university is sponsored by the China Ministry of Education. It is a Chinese state Double First Class University. Hunan Medical University, Changsha ...

). He worked at the Maanshan Iron and Steel Company before becoming chief of the

Communist Youth League The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...

and then deputy Communist Party Chief of his native

province. He then became the party chief of

Huangshan City Huangshan (), is a prefecture-level city in southern Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. Huangshan means ''Yellow Mountain'' in Chinese and the city is named after the famously scenic Yellow Mountains which cover much of the city's vast g ...

and later the public security chief of Anhui. In June 2001, Zhao was transferred to the provincial government of

, becoming a vice governor in January 2005. In June 2010 he was appointed the acting governor of Shaanxi, and confirmed as Governor by the Shaanxi Provincial Congress in January 2011. In December 2012 he was promoted to Communist Party Chief of Shaanxi province, replacing

Zhao Leji Zhao Leji (; born 8 March 1957) is a senior Chinese leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who is the third-ranking member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, the party's top decision-making body. In his earlier political career, he ...

, and

Lou Qinjian Lou may refer to: __NOTOC__ Personal name * Lou (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Lou (German singer) *Lou (French singer) * Lou (surname 娄), the 229th most common surname in China * Lou (surname 楼), the 269th most common ...

was appointed Governor in his place. On 27 March 2016, Zhao Zhengyong stepped down from as Party Chief and was again succeeded by Lou Qinjian. Zhao was named a deputy chair of the

National People's Congress Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee The National People's Congress Supervisory and Judicial Affairs Committee () is one of ten special committees of the National People's Congress, the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. The special committee was created during ...

. Zhao was involved in the illegally constructed villas in the

Qinling Mountains The Qinling () or Qin Mountains, formerly known as the Nanshan ("Southern Mountains"), are a major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the drainage basins of the Yangtze and Yellow ...

. Zhao was a 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 ...

Investigation

On January 15, 2019, it was announced that Zhao was 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 pa ...

, the Communist Party's internal disciplinary body, 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 oper ...

, China's highest anti-corruption agency, for "serious violations of regulations and laws". He was expelled from the Communist Party on January 4, 2020, and his qualification for delegates to the 13th CCP Shaanxi Provincial Congress was terminated. The day Zhao stepped down, his fellow townsman and subordinate, Chen Guoqiang, vice-governor of Shaanxi, was also taken away for investigation. Wei Minzhou, former chief of Shaanxi's capital city

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

, was known to be a close ally of Zhao, was placed under investigation for serious violations of regulations in May 2017. On May 11, 2020, Zhao's trial was held at the First Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin. The public prosecutors accused him of abusing his positions between 2003 and 2018 to seek benefits for others in terms of job promotions, energy resources exploration and utilization, business activities and project contracting and received a huge amount of gifts and money in return. On July 31, he was sentenced to the death penalty with reprieve by the First Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin after he was found to have accepted more than 717 million yuan ($102.4 million) in bribes. The court said that "Zhao was given a two-year reprieve for his death penalty and deprived of political rights for life, with his personal property confiscated. After he finishes the two-year probation, his death penalty will be reduced to life imprisonment without commutation or parole." He was also deprived of his political rights for life, and ordered by the court to have all his personal assets confiscated. He said he accepted the sentence and would not appeal.

Personal life

Zhao married Sun Jianhui (), the couple have a daughter. Zhao has a younger brother named Zhao Zhengfa (). After the downfall of Zhao Zhengyong, his wife, younger brother, and daughter were arrested for investigation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Zhengyong 1951 births Living people Governors of Shaanxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Anhui People's Republic of China politicians from Anhui Chinese police officers Politicians from Ma'anshan Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party