Former rising star in Guangzhou sacked on corruption charges

Wan Qingliang, former Party chief of Guangzhou, has been expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office for corruptionwhile he faces charges from prosecutors, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, the Supreme People's Procuratorate announced that it willinvestigate Wan for taking bribes, adding that the top procuratorate has taken "compulsory measures" against him.

Ren Xuefeng, 48, former deputy mayor of Tianjin municipality, has been appointed as Guangzhou's Party chief.

Before Wan's detention by anti-graft officials from the central government at the end of June, he was found to have visited private clubs and attended luxury banquets many times, even after anti-graft authorities banned such activities, the statement said.

Wan, the highest-ranking official to be sacked in Guangdong province in recent years, was once a rising political star in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, one of the country's economic powerhouses.

In December 2011, he was appointed as a member of the standing committee of the Guangdong provincial Party committee and Party chief of the Guangdong provincial capital.

Wan was the youngest mayor of Guangzhou in the city's history. He was deputy governor of Guangdong before he was elected as Guangzhou mayor in April 2010. He was known as a vocal top official in the affluent southern China city and is also famous for being a former champion in a local dragon boat race.

Wan, 50, was known for being bold and decisive in action after he took office as Guangzhou mayor. He was once applauded by locals after he bulldozed a luxury villa in the city's Ersha Island, a prime site in the city, when the villa owner refused to demolish his unauthorized construction in June 2010.

Wan was also known for his "determination to fight corruption", as he used to always ask his officials in meetings to be clean and honest.

"The corrupt officials will ruin their future and families," Wan publicly warned his officials in a meeting. He once asked the city's anti-graft officials to expand supervision to all officials in Guangzhou, including himself, to help prevent and fight corruption.

However, "Wan used to have many real estate developer friends in Jieyang," said a former colleague.

Wan was a fan of the Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao.

In addition to watching soccer matches, Wan played soccer with his colleagues and friends frequently, according to a local official who was once his colleague.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn