In character and location, the city of Hefei in China’s Anhui province and the privileged seaside resort of Beidaihe on China’s eastern coast could not be more different. But today they will be intimately connected, as the trial opens of Gu Kailai ”“ until recently known as the Jackie Kennedy of China ”“ for complicity in the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood.
The link is Ms Gu’s husband, the former Communist Party boss of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, whose lineage and ambition would doubtless have qualified him for a villa at Beidaihe ”“ the traditional summer retreat of China’s politial elite ”“ this crucial year had the Heywood affair not intervened. As leader of one of China’s fastest growing cities, he was a serious player, but a contentious one, too, because of what were seen as his unfashionable ”“ and perhaps dangerous ”“ conservative views.
Read it all.
(Independent Leader) A murder trial that says much about China
In character and location, the city of Hefei in China’s Anhui province and the privileged seaside resort of Beidaihe on China’s eastern coast could not be more different. But today they will be intimately connected, as the trial opens of Gu Kailai ”“ until recently known as the Jackie Kennedy of China ”“ for complicity in the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood.
The link is Ms Gu’s husband, the former Communist Party boss of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, whose lineage and ambition would doubtless have qualified him for a villa at Beidaihe ”“ the traditional summer retreat of China’s politial elite ”“ this crucial year had the Heywood affair not intervened. As leader of one of China’s fastest growing cities, he was a serious player, but a contentious one, too, because of what were seen as his unfashionable ”“ and perhaps dangerous ”“ conservative views.
Read it all.