[Epoch Times, April 12, 2022]Recently, due to the chaos of epidemic control in Shanghai, secondary disasters are serious, especially the grass-roots neighborhood committees are unable to support the frequent resignations. Li Qiang, Shanghai’s “first brother”, who was a popular candidate for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, was in a state of turmoil.
There is a contest between Han Zheng and Li Qiang.
In the early years, Jiang Zemin never wanted Han Zheng, who served as the Jiang family’s housekeeper, to leave Shanghai, but at that time it was peaceful.
When Han Zheng was promoted, he still left one condition, that is, to keep the “big housekeeper” Zhuge Yujie to watch the officialdom in Shanghai. Zhuge Yujie has worked in Shanghai for nearly 30 years. In 2013, he was appointed as the mayor of Yangpu District. In January 2015, he was appointed as the secretary of the Yangpu District Party Committee. In July 2016, he was appointed as the deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. In April 2017, he was appointed as the secretary general of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. In May 2017, he concurrently served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Secretary-General of the Municipal Party Committee, Director of the General Office, and Secretary of the Party Committee of Municipal Organizations, holding real power.
Zhuge Yujie was promoted all the way by Han Zheng to be the “big housekeeper” of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee.
But Li Qiang also did something to Han Zheng’s men, which made Han Zheng embarrassed.
What annoyed Han Zheng the most was that Li Qiang turned over the “Little Red House” pornographic club in Yangpu, which had been protected by Han Zheng for many years, and arranged for media coverage to stir up the scandal, which had indirectly implied that Han Zheng was also responsible.
Zhao Fuqiang, a native of Taixing, Jiangsu, raised sex slaves in Yangpu’s “Little Red House”. The case was closed in 2019, but mainland media reported more inside stories last year. The 13 officials involved in the case have now been imprisoned, and the largest official sentenced is only Lu Yan, member of the Standing Committee of the Yangpu District Party Committee and secretary of the Political and Legal Committee.
It is rumored that many high-ranking officials came and went in and out of the “Xiaohonglou”, all of which were filmed by Zhao Fuqiang. The central inspection team seized the internal surveillance video in Shanghai. Of course, the inspection team and Li Qiang had a list of prostitution, which might involve higher-level officials.
According to media reports, a list of senior officials who may be involved in the incident is listed, including two former Yangpu District Party secretaries, former Shanghai Municipal Party Standing Committee member and city government executive deputy mayor Chen Yin, and Zhuge Yujie, another real power faction. Moreover, this incident also led to Han Zheng, who was at the national level.
Lu Media reported that in 2017, Zhao Fuqiang, who invested in Shanghai Wanji Culture Media Co., Ltd., took over the operation rights of the “Safe Shanghai” column of the Shanghai Rule of Law Channel. In the name of recruiting a program assistant, Zhao Fuqiang tricked a female student into a company job, and forced her to become a sex slave of “Little Red Mansion” by beating, raping, imprisoning and other means.
The “Safe Shanghai” column is a part of Han Zheng’s “Performance Project” in Shanghai – “Safe Shanghai”.
Therefore, Han Zheng was involved in the matter, so he had to take action and asked that he could not be pulled down to a higher level. In the end, Lu Yan was charged with the crime and protected a large group of people.
Chen Yinhou, a close associate of Han Zheng involved in the case, was transferred to the Hong Kong China Travel Service, which was considered a soft landing. But Zhuge Yujie is fine. This may be a compromise plan that Han Zheng and Li Qiang negotiated.
Han Zheng is known as the smiling tiger, and he always looks flattering in front of Xi Jinping. It is said that Xi does not think that Han Zheng is any threat. Han Zheng is also very polite to Li Qiang on the surface, but behind the scenes there is another way.
This time, taking advantage of Li Qiang’s epidemic prevention crisis, Zhuge Yujie was immediately promoted to the deputy secretary of Shanghai. The insider told the author that it was Han Zheng who actually spoke in front of Xi Jinping, saying that Shanghai should not be so troubled and put pressure on Li Qiang.
Jiang is still old and hot, and Li Qiang can’t play Han Zheng at all.
Speaking of the Shanghai epidemic, the epidemic prevention policy changed drastically at the end of March, which indeed made Li Qiang very passive.
When Li Qiang was appointed in Zhejiang Province, he went to Hong Kong to study for a few years as a graduate student in business administration. At that time, Hong Kong was still a bit democratic, not like it is now. Li Qiang’s choice to go to Hong Kong has caused some speculation. At the time, he was serving as the top secretary to Xi Jinping, the secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, and Xi’s approval should be obtained for choosing Hong Kong. It is unknown whether this educational background has anything to do with his later governance style.
In terms of epidemic prevention, Li Qiang had always listened to experts, which would conflict with Xi Jinping’s “listening to the party”. test. It’s not impossible either. Li Qiang is said to be on good terms with Zhang Wenhong, a well-known epidemic prevention expert, who was once considered Li Qiang’s anti-epidemic military adviser. When Zhang Wenhong proposed the theory of “coexistence with viruses” and was criticized by leftists, Li Qiang ventured to Zhang’s laboratory for research, which was considered a stand for him.
It is said that Han Zheng divided Xi and Li Qiang
An insider in Shanghai told the author that the relatively loose Shanghai epidemic prevention policy eventually became the implementation of the central government’s tough clearing order. There are reasons for other provinces and cities in China to protest to the central government, saying that the central government asked Li Qiang to come here, and who is responsible for the spillover of the epidemic? burden? It is said that Han Zheng, as the first deputy prime minister, had some voice because he had been in charge of Shanghai for a long time. He had collected many opinions against Li Qiang and Zhang Wenhong. Zero unwavering propaganda tone. In addition, Sun Chunlan, known as “Sister Qingling”, did not want to go to Shanghai at first, so as to avoid making it difficult for the Xi faction, and finally Han Zheng secretly urged.
The insider said that Han Zheng was playing a trickster role in front of Xi Jinping this time, which was a bit of a distraction, which was very unfavorable to Li Qiang.
In addition, many officials in Shanghai are Han Zheng’s former department. After Han Zheng entered Beijing, he has been in direct contact with them, which is equivalent to remote control of Shanghai’s officialdom. In fact, many of these officials laughed at Li Qiang behind their backs, and played soft resistance to Li Qiang when the central government forced Shanghai to be obedient. Therefore, Li Qiang had to hold consecutive meetings to call on officials to cooperate, listen to Xi’s instructions, and not lie down.
Now even Zhang Wenhong has learned well, and his words are not sincere. Recently, he also expressed his support for clearing the society as soon as possible, but added a sentence “letting Shanghai’s life and economy quickly return to normal.”
Li Qiang’s top 20 career is not optimistic, Han Zheng or secretly happy
Because Li Qiang had to listen to the central government later, he became a thankless character in Shanghai, and he was angry with the people when he visited the community. The key point is that if Li Qiang’s epidemic prevention is criticized by the central government as a failure, no matter how well the economy has done before, he may be thriving in the country, and he may be blocked from entering the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Han Zheng was still on the rise after major accidents such as the stampede on the Bund, but now the epidemic has become a political issue. For example, Jiang Chaoliang, then secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, and Ma Guoqiang, Secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee, both resigned after Wuhan was closed.
Therefore, Li Qiang’s few cronies are now sweating for him. If Li Qiang is really unable to become a permanent member, and the former Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong also unexpectedly “retires at the age” as secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, Xi Jinping’s confidant will be one less. If Han Zheng is happy, he may also be happy for the Jiang Zemin family who secretly enjoy the privilege of epidemic prevention in the magic capital. But Han Zheng may also be too happy. Xi Jinping still has his own way of infighting. Once he wakes up from “confused wine” and comes up with a killer move, the political nest of the Shanghai Gang will not be guaranteed after all.
Responsible editor: Sun Yun#