Ling Jihua[a] (born 22 October 1956) is a former Chinese politician and one of the principal political advisers of former leader Hu Jintao.
Ling was charged with corruption, bribery, and other misconduct and was sentenced to life imprisonment as part of a larger anti-corruption campaign carried out by Xi Jinping.
Closely following the footsteps of his patron Hu Jintao, Ling was promoted to a leadership position in the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party in 1999, and became an important member of the State Commission for Public Sector Reform.
However, his political fortunes abruptly took a turn when his 23-year-old son was killed while driving a Ferrari in 2012, an event that caused embarrassment for the party elite.
[2] He was expelled from the Communist Party and tried on charges of corruption, illegal possession of state secrets, and abuse of power, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2016.
In December 1995, after having served in CYL for over ten years, Ling was transferred to General Office of the Chinese Communist Party, and continued his work in political theory.
As one of Hu Jintao's closest associates and most trusted advisors, in addition to being of an appropriate level of seniority, Ling seemed long destined for higher office.
[7] While this account was later disputed, the widely discussed "Ferrari crash" was juicy tabloid fodder and exacerbated public cynicism over the debauchery and conspicuous consumption often associated with children of the Communist ruling elite.
[7] The crash and subsequent suppression were said to have led to Ling Jihua's demotion in August 2012,[1][7] and his wife Gu Liping's removal from her job in January 2013.
Li Zhanshu, a close associate of Xi Jinping, replaced Ling's position as Director of General Office.
[12] In March 2013, Ling was elected as one of the vice-chairmen of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), barely holding onto his status as a "national leader".
Ling was officially placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (party's anti-graft agency) on 22 December 2014, and dismissed from his position as United Front Work Department head about a week later.
[16] Several weeks prior to the announcement of the investigation, Ling continued to make appearances on state television in his positions of CPPCC Vice Chairman and United Front chief.
On 15 December Ling penned an article on the Communist theory publication Qiushi brimming with praise for the signature political philosophies of Xi Jinping such as the "Chinese Dream".
Chinese-language media have linked Ling to a mysterious political network composed of prominent politicians and businesspeople with origins in Shanxi called the Xishan Society.
[19] Ling's case received significant media attention, since he was the most prominent political figure expelled from the party since criminal proceedings were initiated against former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang.
He was further accused of taking in large bribes, aiding in the business interests of his wife, sexual misconduct with "numerous women", and illegally obtaining party and state secrets.
Upon hearing his sentence, Ling read aloud from a prepared script stating that he did not contest the conviction and "thanked" the court and the lawyers for their work, and used a Chinese idiom (kegu mingxin) to describe how unforgettable the trial had been to him.
[22] Following his departure from the General Office, it was said that Ling gained access to privileged state secrets through his former subordinate Huo Ke, who was also indicted and tried.
Shum also wrote that Gu Liping was convinced her son was killed not in an accident, but as part of a conspiracy to eliminate Ling Jihua and the Youth League Faction.
On December 16, 2016, the Intermediate People’s Court of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, found Ling Zhengce guilty of accepting bribes totaling over 16 million RMB in a first-instance trial and sentenced him to 12 and a half years in prison.