Meng then worked as a low-profile functionary in the South-North Water Transfer Project, before making a political comeback as the Governor of Shanxi province in 2007.
In December 2009, Meng was given a post on the body that manages the work of the directly-controlled organizations of the Communist Party's central committee (中共中央直属机关工作委员会).
In 2012, he gained a largely ceremonial post as the head of a legal affairs committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
[1] The SARS crisis hit Beijing sometime in March of that year, and Meng is said to have moved patients between hospitals in a botched cover-up that worsened the outbreak.
[5] The Politburo Standing Committee decided to remove him from his posts on 16 April as part of a double sacking with health minister Zhang Wenkang.
[9] Meng is a member of the tuanpai faction of former Communist Youth League officials and has close personal ties to Party General secretary Hu Jintao.
"[11] At a news conference in January 2003, he portrayed himself as an old friend of Hu, stating "Comrade Jintao was a major leader in the Communist Youth League 20 years ago and some of us worked under his leadership... What I remember most deeply are his fairness, personal integrity and selflessness.