Shen Weichen (; born May 12, 1956) is a former 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 ...

province. During his career he served as the Communist Party Secretary of the city of

Jinzhong Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of China, bordering Hebei province to the east. As of the 2020 census, its total population was 3,379,498 inhabitants of whom 1,226,61 ...

in Shanxi province, the director of propaganda of Shanxi province, and the Party Secretary of

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

, the provincial capital. In September 2010 Shen was transferred to work for the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party under

Liu Yunshan Liu Yunshan (; zh, s=刘云山, t=劉雲山, p=Liú Yúnshān; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the top decision-making body of the CCP, between 2 ...

. After the 18th Party Congress, Shen became a leading figure in the

China Association for Science and Technology The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST; ) is a people's organization of Chinese scientists and engineers, which is composed of multiple national professional societies and hundreds of branches at various local and international ...

. He was removed from office in April 2014 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); Shen himself was a member of the CCDI. His downfall was notable for the CCDI investigating 'one of their own.' He was sentenced to life in prison in 2016.

Career

Shen was born and raised in Lucheng County,

province. Shen entered

Shanxi University Shanxi University (SXU; ) is a provincial public university in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Shanxi. The university is part of the Double First-Class Construction. History Early 1900 The Shansi Imperial Univer ...

in April 1972, majoring in physical education, where he graduated in December 1975. Shen became involved in politics in August 1969 and 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 January 1979. Shen rose through the ranks to become the CPC Party Secretary of

in May 2000. That same year, he was elevated to head the Shanxi Provincial Propaganda Department of the Communist Party. In January 2006, Shen was transferred to

, capital of

Shanxi Province Shanxi; formerly romanised as Shansi is a province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi and Datong. Its one-character abbreviation is ( ...

, and he was appointed the Party Secretary of Taiyuan, a position he held until September 2010. According to Chinese-language media, locals appraisal of Shen's time at the helm of the provincial capital was summed up with the line, "he sold a lot of land, filmed a tv show, and slept with a bunch of women." Shen was allegedly involved in a relationship with a prominent singer from Shanxi province (she was not named in reports). The province's richest man, Zhang Xinming, was reported to have given 5 million yuan (~$812,000) to one of the singer's concerts in order to curry favour with Shen. In September 2010, Shen was transferred to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and appointed the Deputy Director of the

Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ...

, working as the assistant to then-Director

. He remained in that position until April 2013, when he was promoted to become the Party Group Secretary of

, the largest civic organization overseeing work in science and technology in China with a membership of over 430,000. At the 18th Party Congress Shen was also elected as a member of the

18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) was elected at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party on 14 November 2012. Its 1st Plenary Session elected the Secretary, deputy secretaries and the 18th Standing Com ...

Downfall

In February 2014, Shen's former colleague Jin Daoming, then the Vice-Chairman of the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress, was held for investigation. It was reported that Jin gave evidence that implicated Shen in corruption. On April 12, 2014, Shen was being investigated by the

for "serious violations of laws and regulations". Shen is the first provincial-ministerial official to be implicated in 2014 as part of the massive anti-corruption campaign following the

18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party The 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held November 8–14, 2012 at the Great Hall of the People. Due to term limits and age restrictions, seven of the nine members of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) retir ...

. He was also the first member of the 18th CCDI itself that was investigated for corruption. In December 2014, Shen was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party. The party investigation concluded that Shen "abused his power for the illicit gain of others, took massive bribes, received gifts of cash, and committed adultery." His case was forwarded to judicial authorities for prosecution. Shen was sentenced for life in prison for bribery on October 11, 2016.

Personal life

Shen spent much of his career in sports administration, and excelled at sports. He was known to be warm, good-looking, and extraordinarily talkative, often giving lengthy speeches at meetings. Shen is tall. Shen was fond of Shanxi history, and was instrumental in planning and filming the 2006 television series '' Qiao's Grand Courtyard'', as well as the series ''Eighth Route Army'' and ''Luliang Heroes'' ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shen, Weichen 1956 births Politicians from Changzhi Shanxi University alumni Living people Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanxi People's Republic of China politicians from Shanxi Chinese politicians convicted of corruption