Lu Wei (; born January 1960) is a former Chinese politician. He served as the deputy head of the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party, the head of the

General Office A General Office (also known as "administrative office") is an important administrative political organ in the communist party organizations and communist countries (such as China, Laos and Vietnam for instance). Generally speaking, the General Offi ...

of the Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization (one and the same with the

Cyberspace Administration of China The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC; ) is the central internet regulator, censor, oversight, and control agency for the People's Republic of China. The office also holds the administrative title of the party's Office of the Central C ...

, CAC) from August 2013 to June 2016. Lu was previously Vice-Mayor of Beijing and the head of the Beijing Party organization's propaganda department, among other posts. Lu was named by ''Time'' magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2015. Multiple charges brought in 2017 resulted in Lu being sentenced to fourteen years in prison in 2019.

Biography

Lu was born in

Chaohu Chaohu () is a county-level city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hefei. Situated on the northeast and southeast shores of Lake Chao, from which the city was named, Ch ...

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 River ...

in January 1960. He earned a reputation as being relatively brash and colorful within the Chinese bureaucracy. In 1991, Lu worked in Xinhua News Agency of Guangxi province as the Deputy Director, he was promoted to become the Director in 1997. From 2001 to 2004, he rose through the ranks to become Deputy Director of

Xinhua News Agency 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 ...

. In March 2011, Lu was appointed as the Vice-Mayor of Beijing, the Minister of Beijing Propaganda Department and a Standing Committee member of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee. He remained in that positions until April 2013, when he was appointed the Chairman of State Internet Information Office, the Vice-Chairman of

State Council Information Office The State Council Information Office (SCIO; ) is the chief information office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. In 2014, SCIO was absorbed into the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histor ...

. In August 2013, he became head of the newly created

in August 2013. At the 13th China Internet Media Forum on October 30, 2013, Lu made a presentation that thematized the

Chinese Dream The Chinese Dream () is a term closely associated with Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and China's paramount leader. Xi began promoting the phrase as a slogan during a high-profile tour of an exhibit at th ...

, a term that Chinese Communist Party General Secretary

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, ...

had popularized since late 2012. Lu visited the United States during the first week of December 2014. In Washington, D.C. he conferred with senior administration officials such as the National Security Council about issues such as alleged Chinese hacking activities and censorship. In

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

he was greeted warmly by the top management of major firms such as

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

, and

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

. Lu suddenly stepped down from his post at the Cyberspace Administration of China in June 2016, for unknown reasons. While Lu remained a deputy head of the propaganda department, he relinquished all other titles of import. Foreign media speculated that this might signal a shift in Chinese internet policy. Lu was placed under investigation for corruption in November 2017, making him the first official of provincial rank to be investigated for corruption following the 19th Party Congress. He was expelled from the Communist Party in February 2018. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Lu was “arbitrary and tyrannical”, abused his power for personal gain and pretended to follow the rules. Other offences included using all means to build personal fame, making false and anonymous accusations against others, deceiving the top Communist leadership, extreme disloyalty, duplicity, trading power for sex, improper discussion of the party and a lack of self-control. On October 19, 2018, the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court heard Lu Wei's bribery case. He took advantage of his position to seek benefit for others and accepted a large sum of money. Lu has been accused of bribing about 32 million yuan. He pleaded guilty to corruption in October. On March 26, 2019, Lu was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined three million yuan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Wei 1960 births People from Chaohu Living people Chinese Communist Party politicians from Anhui Renmin University of China alumni Deputy mayors of Beijing Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Guangxi University alumni Chinese politicians convicted of corruption Politicians from Hefei Xinhua News Agency people