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Zhu Zuoli

Zhu Zuoli (Chinese: 祝作利; pinyin: Zhù Zuólì; born January 1955) is a former Chinese politician who spent most of his career in Shaanxi Province. Zhu was the Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission between 2008 and 2013, a department with broad powers over the provincial economy, and then the Vice-Chairman of the provincial People's Political Consultative Conference (Zhengxie), a mostly ceremonial legislative consultation body. He was placed under investigation for corruption by the Communist Party's internal anti-corruption agency in February 2014, and dismissed from his positions. In 2015, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for bribery.^[1]

Zhu was born in Xiayi County, Henan in January 1955. He graduated from Northwest University in Xi'an, majoring in economics. He returned to his home county in 1973 to become a middle school teacher at Liulou School Between 1976 and 1977 he performed manual labour at a commune in Chang'an County, Shaanxi. He spent the next year at a factory in Xi'an. He received his masters political economics degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University and graduated in 1982. Zhu joined the Chinese Communist Party in July 1986.^[2]

After the Chinese economic reform, Zhu worked as an officer in Shaanxi Economic and Trade Commission.^[2] Zhu worked as Deputy Secretary General of the Shaanxi government between December 2002 to February 2006; by June 2005 he was made a full department-level official.^[2]

In February 2006, Zhu was promoted to become the Vice-Chairman of Shaanxi Development and Reform Commission; he rose further through the ranks to become director of the Shaanxi Development and Reform Commission, a department with power to approve a wide range of capital projects in the province, in March 2008.^[3]

In January 2013, Zhu was transferred to become Vice Chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; while this was technically a promotion, given that the provincial Development and Reform Commission played an outsize role in the provincial economy, this was in reality a transfer away from the center of power.^[2]

On February 19, 2014, it was announced that Zhu was undergoing investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party for "serious violations of laws and regulations".^[2][4][5][6] On August 6, 2014, the CCDI announced Zhu's expulsion from the Communist Party. He was accused of taking bribes personally and through his son, and his case moved to judicial proceedings.^[7]

The Langfang Intermediate People's Court in Hebei province took on Zhu's case in July 2015. Zhu was convicted of taking bribes worth approximately 8.55 million yuan (~$1.38 million), including accepting a gift of a Honda CR-V from a corporate executive, as well as accepting a $10 million Hong Kong dollar cash gift in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing in exchange for supporting the promotion of an associate.^[8] On November 19, 2015, Zhu was sentenced 11 years in jail for taking bribes.^[1]