Chen Rugui (; born September 1962) is a Chinese politician who is the current vice chairman of Guangdong Provincial People's Congress. Previously he served as

mayor of Shenzhen The mayor of Shenzhen, officially the Mayor of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, is the head of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Municipality and leader of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government. The mayor is elected by the Shenzhen Municipal Peo ...

. He was a representative of the

19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics Nineteen is the eighth prime number. Number theory 19 forms a twin prime with 17, a cousin prime with 23, and a sexy prime with 13 ...

and is a delegate to the

13th National People's Congress The 13th National People's Congress (NPC) was elected from October 2017 to February 2018 and was in session in the five-year period from 2018 to 2023. It held five sessions in this period, occurring around early March every year until before 202 ...

. He was investigated by China's top anti-graft agency in June 2022.

Early life and education

Chen was born in

Lianjiang County Lianjiang (; Foochow Romanized, BUC: Lièng-gŏng) is a counties of China, county on the eastern coast in Fuzhou prefecture-level city, the provincial capital of Fujian, Fujian Province, China. Most of the county is administered by the China, ...

(now Lianjiang),

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, in September 1962. After passing the college entrance examination in 1979, he attended Guilin Institute of Metallurgical Geology (now Guilin University of Technology), majoring in geophysical prospecting. He taught there after his graduation. In 1986, he became a graduate student at Central South University of Technology (now

Central South University Central South University (CSU; ) is a public university in Changsha, Hunan, China. Funded and overseen by China's Ministry of Education, it is a member of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction initiatives. History ...

Political career

After graduating in May 1989, he was assigned as an official to the Guangzhou Institute of Building Science, and was promoted to its president in March 1998. He joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) in October 1992. In August 1999, he became the vice chairman and vice general manager of Guangzhou Construction Group Co. Ltd., rising to chairman and general manager in June 2000. He served as deputy director of Guangzhou Municipal Construction Commission in July 2001, and was promoted to director in May 2003. He was appointed as secretary-general of Guangzhou Municipal People's Government in March 2007, and in June 2010 was admitted as a member of the standing committee of the CCP Guangzhou Municipal Committee, the city's top authority. He was vice mayor of

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

in December 2011, and held that office until September 2015, when he was made deputy party secretary of Guangzhou and secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission. He was promoted to be party secretary of

Zhongshan Zhongshan ( zh, c=中山 ), alternately romanized via Cantonese as Chungshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is n ...

in September 2016, concurrently serving as chairman of its People's Congress since January 2017. In July 2017, he was promoted to deputy party secretary and acting mayor of

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, confirmed on August 22. In April 2021, he took office as vice chairman of

People's Congress.

Downfall

On 1 June 2022, Chen was put under investigation for alleged "serious violations of discipline and laws" by the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest supervisory organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCDI is elected and supervised by the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP National Congress. ...

(CCDI), the party's internal disciplinary body, and the

National Supervisory Commission The National Supervisory Commission is the highest supervisory and anti-corruption authority of the People's Republic of China. Formed in 2018 by an 2018 amendment to the Constitution of China, amendment to the Constitution of China, Constitut ...

, the highest anti-corruption agency of China. On 30 December 2022, he was expelled from the CCP and dismissed from public office. On 18 January 2023, Chen was arrested by the

Supreme People's Procuratorate The Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China (SPP) is the highest national agency responsible for legal prosecution and prosecutorial investigation in China. The SPP reports to the National People's Congress (NPC). The P ...

for suspected bribe taking. On 6 August 2024, Chen was sentenced to life in jail for taking bribes valued at more than 108 million yuan ($15 million). He was deprived of his political rights for life, and all his personal assets were confiscated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Rugui 1962 births Living people 21st-century mayors of places in China Mayors of Shenzhen People from Lianjiang, Guangdong Purged Chinese politicians Guilin University of Technology alumni Central South University alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Guangdong Chinese Communist Party politicians from Guangdong