[10] During his Zhengfawei stint, Zhou served in a series of other roles, including leading the office of Xinjiang affairs, and deputy director of the Central Public Security Comprehensive Management Commission; he was seen as one of the leading figures of the Zhengfawei world and a trusted lieutenant of Zhou Yongkang.
[11] In 2012, the son of Ling Jihua crashed in a Ferrari on one of Beijing's ring roads, unleashing highly unanticipated political consequences.
[12] In March 2013, Zhou Benshun was appointed the party chief of Hebei province, replacing Zhang Qingli, who became Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Zhou reportedly became meek and low-profile, and deferred many decisions to Zhang Qingwei, governor of Hebei and his deputy, even for routine matters such as making closing statements at meetings.
[13] Xi Jinping visited the Hebei party leadership in September 2013 to personally oversee a democratic life meeting where senior officials criticized each other and engaged in self-criticism.
[14] Fellow provincial standing committee member Jing Chunhua commented, "comrade Benshun needs to practice more democracy when making policy decisions."
On July 24, 2015, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party's top anti-corruption body, placed Zhou under investigation.
[13] Earlier that day, Zhou attended a Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration conference hosted by Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli; he was detained shortly after the meeting ended.
The investigation concluded that Zhou had voiced opinions contrary to the spirit of the policies of the party center, frequented private clubs, accepted bribes and leaked state secrets.