preface
On October 6, 1976, the "Gang of Four" was escorted to an isolation point inside the underground project for isolation review. After the verdict was announced, the "Gang of Four" was transferred to Qincheng Prison to serve his sentence.
Qincheng Prison was built in 1958 with Soviet assistance. It has held criminals of different identities throughout the ages:
In the fifties and sixties, he imprisoned Japanese prisoners of war and Kuomintang war criminals above the rank of major general; In the seventies and eighties, he imprisoned the main members of the Lin Biao Group and the "Gang of Four"; After the nineties, corrupt officials at the provincial and ministerial levels were imprisoned...
Compared with ordinary prisons, this prison gives special prisoners relatively superior living conditions.
So, as Chen Xitong, the highest-ranking official in Qincheng Prison after the "Gang of Four", what is his life in it?
Chen Xitong's path to promotion
Chen Xitong was born in June 1930 in Anyue, Sichuan, with a brilliant brain, and his academic performance from childhood to adulthood was top-notch.
After growing up, Chen Xitong was successfully admitted to Peking University's Chinese major. At the age of 18, Chen Xitong participated in revolutionary work and actively devoted himself to the cause of liberation.
In December 1949, Chen Xitong joined the Communist Party of China.
Dispatched by the organization, Chen Xitong first worked in the neighborhood group and was later assigned to a civilian position in the police station of the public security sub-bureau. With his red roots and ink in his stomach, Chen Xitong was caught in by Liu Ren, the second secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, during a reception.
After that, as Liu Ren's secretary, Chen Xitong's promotion path began.
In order to train this young man, Liu Ren asked Chen Xitong to work in the factory. When Chen Xitong left the factory, he won the recognition of all the leaders and employees of the First Machine Tool Factory with his outstanding performance and super leadership.
In 1963, Chen Xitong was elected as the vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry of the Changping County Party Committee of Beijing. Soon, he was promoted to deputy secretary of the Changping County Party Committee.
In those turbulent years, Chen Xitong was "decentralized" to work in the countryside. Chen Xitong does not complain, does not complain, and while working steadily, he also finds time to study. In 1973, Chen Xitong was promoted step by step to the "original post" - deputy secretary of the Changping County Party Committee.
In 1976, Chen Xitong's position was changed from deputy to regular.
Three years later, under the strong recommendation of Lin Hujia, the leader of the older generation of Beijing, and others, Chen Xitong returned to the long-lost compound of the Beijing government office. In the same year, Chen Xitong was appointed vice mayor of Beijing.
In March 1983, Chen Xitong, a member of the Central Committee, was appointed mayor of Beijing.
The following year, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued a circular praising Chen Xi and the same young and middle-aged cadres for their advanced experience in being directly promoted to major posts.
In other words, can cadres who are directly promoted be able to shoulder this heavy burden? In the early days of Chen Xitong's administration, he did a lot of practical things for the people of Beijing with a "bold" and "innovative" work style. At that time, Chen Xitong devoted himself to Beijing's greening work, and he once said that with trees and green, cities have artificial lungs.
However, as his official position rose again and again, the supervision of him became less and less, so that Chen Xitong gradually "turned from red to black", and then stepped into the abyss of crime...
Before and after the case, Chen Xitong's botched performance
On October 19, 1992, Chen Xitong was elected as a member of the Politburo. Soon, he succeeded Li Ximing, the former secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, and became the head of the city.
Because Chen Xitong's power is too concentrated, often a single word from him can change a person's "official fortune". Among them, the most typical example is Wang Baosen. Wang Baosen was originally an ordinary cadre of the Finance Bureau, and he was appreciated by Chen Xitong for his ability to do what he liked and sneak around and beat the horse.
Later, under the recommendation of Chen Xitong, Wang Baosen was soon promoted to the director of the municipal finance bureau. Wang Baosen relies on doing things "reliably", and many things can be handled successfully without Chen Xitong's explicit instructions, and he has won Chen Xitong's trust more and more.
Therefore, in order to cultivate his "henchmen", Chen Xitong even pushed Wang Baosen to the position of vice mayor of Beijing. In this way, Wang Baosen, who followed Chen Xi's lead with the horse, seized the financial and planning power of Beijing.
In early April 1995, Wang Baosen was interviewed by the Beijing municipal government on suspicion of economic crimes. After that, Wang Baosen was placed on file for investigation.
Chen Xitong was completely aware of the shady things Wang Baosen had done over the years. Many things are beneficial to Chen Xitong. Among them, it is inevitable that Wang Baosen is Chen Xi and the same pornographer.
In order to calm Wang Baosen's emotions, Chen Xitong talked to him many times. On April 5, after his last conversation with Chen Xitong, Wang Baosen went to an orchard on the outskirts of Beijing to kill himself. After reasonable inference and on-site sampling, the public security organs determined that Wang Baosen committed suicide in fear of crime.
Wang Baosen died, and Chen Xitong's first thought was to "resign with blame". However, the central authorities did not approve the resignation letter he submitted. A few days later, Chen Xitong submitted his resignation again, citing three seemingly plausible reasons:
First, I am old; Second, Wang Baosen committed suicide, I have an unshirkable responsibility; Third, my secretary is also involved in the case.
Nevertheless, the central government said "no".
Until now, Chen Xitong still thinks that he has merit, and if he did not directly make any big mistakes, the central government would not treat him well! During those days, Chen Xitong also personally held a meeting to convey the latest instructions of the central authorities to relevant personnel, and encouraged everyone to say that the central authorities also affirmed Beijing's work!
Chen Xitong's third resignation was at the Fifth Plenum of the 14th Central Committee, but this time he was dumbfounded. At the meeting, it was immediately announced that Wei Jianxing, a member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, would take over his work.
With the detection of a series of major cases, Chen Xitong's crime also surfaced.
After Chen Xitong "fell off the horse", he was first "shuanggui" living in Beidaihe, and then transferred to Hohhot Prison in Inner Mongolia and Liangxiang in Beijing.
In March 1998, during the convening of the "two sessions," the delegates reacted strongly to the corruption of Chen Xi and others. They have asked the procuratorate to give an explanation.
On July 31 of the same year, the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court officially pronounced its verdict on Chen Xitong's case:
Chen Xitong was sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzlement; Chen Xitong was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment for dereliction of duty; The two crimes were punished concurrently, and it was decided to carry out a fixed-term imprisonment of 16 years. The stolen goods were confiscated and turned over to the State Treasury.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, Chen Xitong was sent to Qincheng Prison to serve his sentence.
Chen Xitong's life in Qincheng Prison
When he first entered Qincheng Prison, Chen Xitong still spoke in the same tone as the "Gang of Four". When the staff failed to meet the demands he made, he would yell. When his mood calmed down a little, Chen Xitong would repeat that he was Lao Chen, a big embezzler in Beijing.
In 2004, Chen Xitong developed health problems. He took the initiative to write to the central government, reported his condition, and asked for "medical parole." After many considerations, the central government finally let Chen Xitong "go on medical parole" two years later.
In 2007, someone reported seeing Chen Xitong dining with people at a restaurant in Beijing. According to witnesses, Chen Xitong's legs and feet were inflexible and he needed help.
Speaking of which, is Chen Xitong's illness caused by squatting in prison? The answer is clearly not. In the cell of Qincheng Prison, there is nothing bad except for being monitored 24 hours a day. Not only can he read books, but he can also call the prison staff to play tennis with him.
These records are described in the article "Where Corrupt High-ranking Officials Serve Their Sentences".
During the "medical parole", Chen Xitong was allowed to meet some old friends at the right time. In 2008, Chen Xitong's condition intensified, and since then, he has mainly focused on treating and recuperating.
One year has passed, and Chen Xitong's illness has not shown any signs of improvement, but several times the hospital has issued a critical illness notice.
In the later stage, Chen Xitong could only rely on drugs to maintain his life.
On June 2, 2013, Chen Xitong died.
Postscript:
In summing up the lessons of Chen Xi and others, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee pointed out:
An important reason for Chen Xitong's serious incident in Beijing is that the party's democratic centralism has been trampled on, weakening the internal democratic decision-making and supervision and restraint functions of the municipal leadership.