Ai Wenli

Ai was born in March 1955, and graduated from Tangshan Regional Business School (唐山地区商业学校). In 1971 he became a worker on a farm. Later he served as the County Head of Tanghai County, the Head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Tangshan Committee, the director Bureau of Land Reclamation of Hebei, the Deputy Secretary and Head of the Organization Department of the CPC Shijiazhuang Committee, the Mayor of Chengde, and the Secretary of the CPC Chengde Committee.[2]

During the Sanlu scandal in 2008, Ai was appointed as the Party Deputy Secretary and the Mayor of Shijiazhuang.[3] In 2011, he was appointed as the Head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Hebei Committee, until September 2015.[4][5] He was appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 2015,[6] and he retired in January 2018.[7] In July 2018, Ai turned himself in to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervisory Commission.[8]

On July 31, 2018, Ai Wenli was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's internal disciplinary body, and the National Supervisory Commission, the highest anti-corruption agency of the People's Republic of China, for "serious violations of regulations and laws". According to the report, he turned himself in.[9][10] He was expelled from the Communist Party on October 19, 2018.[11][12]

On April 18, 2019, Ai was sentenced to 8 years in prison for bribery in Suzhou, Jiangsu.[9][13][14] He was also fined 3 million yuan ($44.7 million).[14]