Feng Lixiang (; born August 1957) is a Chinese politician from

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

who served as the Communist Party Secretary of

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population o ...

from 2008 to 2014. In 2014, he was investigated for corruption, expelled from the Communist Party, and indicted on bribery charges.

Early life and education

Feng was born and raised in Shanyin County,

. In December 1974, at age 17, he became a sent-down youth during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. Feng 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 ...

in September 1976, around the time of Mao's death. After the resumption of

National College Entrance Examination The Nationwide Unified Examination for Admissions to General Universities and Colleges (), commonly abbreviated as the Gaokao (), is the annual nationally coordinated undergraduate admission exam in mainland China, held in early June. Despite the ...

, he entered the Taiyuan University of Technology, majoring in mechanical engineering. After college, he was assigned to Shanxi Metallurgical Geological Exploration Company (), one year later, he was transferred to the General Office of CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee as a secretary. He earned a M.E. degree from University of Science and Technology Beijing in 1995 and a Doctor of Management Science and Engineering degree from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2008.

Career

From December 1988 to March 1996, he served in various political roles in the General Office of the Shanxi Provincial Government. He served as secretary general of Taiyuan Municipal Party Committee from March 1996 to August 2001, then he was promoted to deputy party chief of Taiyuan. Feng served as deputy party chief of

from February 2006 to February 2008, and the party chief, the top political position in the city, from February 2008 to October 2014. He concurrently served as mayor of Datong from March 2006 to February 2008.

Downfall

On October 15, 2014, it was announced that Feng was being investigated 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. ...

of the

for "serious violations of laws and regulations". Feng was the first prefecture-level "first-in-charge" (i.e. party chief) to be investigated for corruption in Shanxi province after the 18th Party Congress. Following his dismissal, several of his subordinates, including the party chiefs of the Yanggao, Tianzhen and Zuoyun counties, were rounded up for investigation as well, showing the 'depth' of corruption in the city. In November 2014, Feng was indicted on charges of giving and accepting bribes by the Tianjin People's Procuratorate, and arrested. After his dismissal, Datong did not have a party chief until August 2015, when Beijing official Zhang Jifu was 'parachuted' into the city to take charge. On August 7, he was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and dismissed from public office. His suspected crimes will also be transferred to the procuratorate for further investigation and prosecution. On October 12, 2016, he was sentenced to 20 years and fined 2 million yuan for taking bribes, offering bribes and huge amount of property with unknown sources.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feng, Lixiang 1957 births Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanxi Living people Political office-holders in Shanxi Purged Chinese politicians Taiyuan University of Technology alumni University of Science and Technology Beijing alumni Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Shanxi Mayors of places in China Politicians from Shuozhou People expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 2014 Chinese politicians convicted of corruption