Liu Hongwei

politics - The fallout of the Chen Liangyu case

I have been out of cyberspace for a few days, but see that the fallout of the downfall of Chen Liangyu is going on. A short overview of what I missed:
The China Digital Times continues its sequence of translations from the Chinese media (a very good idea, I think, since picking up AP-pieces is not that much needed):

Liu Hongwei, Assistant Minister of Finance and former head of Bureau of Finance of Shanghai, is under the investigation of the Central Committee of Discipline Inspection.

Liu Hongwei, just like Chen from Ningbo, is also a famous dancer. That brings to mind the questions concerning the unavoidable concubines Chen probably did have. I remember vaguely a link about the issue, but could not retrace it, so it might also just be my fantasy about the powerful and the rich
ESWN brings in a wealth of details on the Chen Liangyu case.

AP gives a roundup of the case, ahead of the upcoming meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee, where its career planning policies might be highest on its secret agenda. The way how the party is going to deal with Chen is certainly part of the deliberations.
Joseph Kahn of the New York Times gives his latest assessment:

They said Zeng [Qinghong] had used the investigation to eliminate provincial opposition to central party directives, sideline remaining loyalists to the former top leader, Jiang Zemin, and strengthen his own hand as well as that of his current master, President Hu Jintao.

CNN uses a Reuters piece to bring us up to date, so I felt obliged to see what has happened to Willy Wo Lap-Lam, the writer whose page-long descriptions of real and imaginary palace revolutions in Beijing did bring us so much amusement in the past. Willy joined CNN after the South China Morning Post kicked him out rather unceremoniously, but now he has turned to the academia.

Update: Of course I have missed a few items. Shanghaiist points me at an article on the demonstrations in Shanghai against corruption.

Hundreds of residents from the south-west Minhang district blocked a section of a major road last Friday and Saturday. Police ended it detaining four organisers of the protests, which residents had originally planned to hold for several days. Why take to the streets? Residents claim local officials underestimated compensation money paid out to locals forced to relocate to make way for the expansion of the domestic Hongqiao airport.

The article also points to suggestions Chen and Liu were at least dance partners and likely a bit more. Real estate tycoon and former inmate is under house arrest and suggested to have assisted homeless concubines of Chen, like Ma Yanli. I'm sure more will follow on this.