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View Full Version : Death of Brit stirs intrigue in China



RollingWave
03-28-2012, 12:47 AM
As if the recent news of Bo Xi Lai's high profile sacking wasn't enough...... :shocked:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/26/143134/death-of-brit-stirs-intrigue-in.html


By BARBARA DEMICK | Los Angeles Times
By BARBARA DEMICK
The British government has requested China open an investigation into the mysterious death of a 41-year-old British businessman who had been friendly with the family of Bo Xilai, the recently purged Communist Party secretary of Chongqing.

Neil Heywood died in November in a hotel in Chongqing; the cause was ruled to be "excessive alcohol consumption" and his body was cremated. But earlier this year, the case was reopened "based on new information from one of our contacts," according to a spokesman for the British embassy in Beijing.
"Our role is only consular. ... We are requesting that the Chinese government investigate the death," said the spokesman Monday.

Heywood apparently met Bo, 62, a decade ago in Dalian, where Bo had been mayor. Heywood enjoyed sailing and luxury cars and was a graduate of the same fancy British boarding school, Harrow, where Bo's son, Bo Guagua, later studied.

Heywood appeared to flit from job to job in China, where he had lived for more than a decade. He was photographed - wearing a beige linen suit and green tie - at a luxury goods conference where he was described as working for the car company Aston Martin. He also worked briefly as an adviser for a company doing initial public offerings of stock.

"He walked into our office one day, presenting himself as a consultant. He claimed he had done a few projects helping Chinese companies do IPOs abroad," said Shen Wei, who runs Beijing HL Consulting Co., which used to list Heywood as one of its advisers. Shen said Heywood never ended up doing any deals with them and that they only learned of his death recently.

Rumors about Heywood's death have surfaced in recent days on Chinese websites, which have described him (apparently erroneously) as a butler for Bo's son. Though most posts have been quickly deleted, Chinese appear to be relishing a rare public intrigue.

Bo Xilai, wrote a Chinese journalist, Yang Haipeng, is like a "more insidious version of Lady Macbeth."

Bo, once a contender for high office in China, was sacked earlier this month after one of his closest confidantes sought political asylum at a U.S. consulate in western China, claiming that his life was in danger. Wang Lijun, who had been a top police official, also turned over a stack of documents said to be incriminating.
According to a leaked Chinese investigative report, Wang had earlier confronted Bo with complaints from police who said they were being pressured in their investigation of a case related to Bo's family. Chinese websites have speculated that the case might be the death of the family friend, Heywood.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Wang told Bo he believed Heywood had been poisoned. In addition, the newspaper said a source claimed Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, a former lawyer, had a business dispute with Heywood.


the bigger intrigue is that Heywood also worked as a consultant for British Agencies that have ties to MI6 .. :grin: so nooooow it's allll comming together :grin:

MMC
03-28-2012, 06:42 AM
Ah.....Nice job RW. This gives us insight as to what was taking place in China with Bo. I didn't know the Police Official would hand over some documents to. Wonder what has taken place with such as we turned this Police official away.

RollingWave
03-28-2012, 07:07 AM
Well, I think the more "interesting" aspect is that we have a middle aged brit with good background, no apparent long term occupation, but living a life of luxury and have secretive ties... hmmmm... where have I heard that?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/007GEposter.jpg/220px-007GEposter.jpg

MMC
03-28-2012, 07:26 AM
Yes.....whats missing are the girls. :laugh: Although you can find the Top 40 Bond Girls in the Pub. :wink:

Conley
03-28-2012, 09:11 AM
Well, I think the more "interesting" aspect is that we have a middle aged brit with good background, no apparent long term occupation, but living a life of luxury and have secretive ties... hmmmm... where have I heard that?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/007GEposter.jpg/220px-007GEposter.jpg

:laugh: Brilliant!

This is a weird case, to be sure.

Mister D
03-28-2012, 09:24 AM
Awfully suspicious. :shocked:

MMC
03-28-2012, 01:36 PM
Uh huh.....eyes know ya was checkin out those goilzs of the Bond! :laugh:

RollingWave
04-10-2012, 11:03 PM
Bo's wife, along with his "henchmen" is arrested on suspicion of murdering Heywood.

007 can't write this script any better :grin:

Conley
04-10-2012, 11:37 PM
Bo's wife, along with his "henchmen" is arrested on suspicion of murdering Heywood.

007 can't write this script any better :grin:

:laugh: :shocked: Wow!

RollingWave
04-11-2012, 02:07 AM
What's even more hilarious is that over the past few weeks a few times crazy rumor of Bo supporters staging coups in Beijing have circulated around the Chinese webs (before it was predictablly hammered down hard), and the whole mess started to really catch public attention when Bo's former second in command ran into the American Embassy seeking Asylum before local police literally siege the place and demand he be handed over a couple months back, again, this has 007 written all over it.

Conley
04-11-2012, 07:56 AM
The Chinese police sieged a U.S. Embassy? I guess he didn't get his asylum!


China has urged support for its probe into disgraced leader Bo Xilai, a day after news of his dismissal and the detention of his wife over the death of a UK businessman shocked the country.A widely-published piece in party newspaper People's Daily praised the "correct decision", saying it showed respect for the rule of law.
Mr Bo's removal from key party posts was announced late on Tuesday.
It followed weeks of speculation over the former Chongqing party chief.
Mr Bo, 62, was once tipped as a future leader. But he has now been removed from his posts on the Communist Party's hugely powerful 25-member Politburo, and the 300-member Central Committee.
His wife, Gu Kailai, is being investigated in connection with the death of British businessman Neil Heywood, Chinese authorities have also announced.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17673498

RollingWave
04-23-2012, 08:32 PM
The Chinese police sieged a U.S. Embassy? I guess he didn't get his asylum!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17673498 Yeah, the PRC police basically surronded the whole embassy, though obviously they didn't forciablly ente or anything, or that would be a gigantic international incident.

And it seems to only get more Bondian by the day... now rumor is that Bo ploted the Da Liang Air diasastor which killed some 112 folks back when Bo was the mayor of the city.... including one of his political enemies.

RollingWave
05-25-2012, 04:23 AM
So now tha Wang Li Jung (Bo's ex-dupty that set this whole thing off with a bang) is being charged with treason (which likely means firing squad. ) thats not going to bode well for Bo and his wife, not surpringly Bo's son is aleady deciding to stay in the US (he graduated from Harvard a couple days ago with a masters in politics, the irony :grin:) i'd put money on him eithe seeking asylum and/or never stepping back on Chinese soild again.

RollingWave
05-29-2012, 05:42 AM
If you thought this story was already hollywood material.... well then it just got involved an ACTUAL hollywood material! :grin:

The most famous actress in China, Zhang Ziyi, whom stared in major world wide productions such as Rush Hour 2, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memorie of a Geshia etc... is being DETAINED AND QUESTIONED in relationship with the Bo case... HOLY SHITE

I guess one should say that if you pay to sleep with

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_Poster.jpg/220px-Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_Poster.jpg
Then getting the firing squad is perfectly legit :evil:

MMC
05-29-2012, 09:50 AM
If you thought this story was already hollywood material.... well then it just got involved an ACTUAL hollywood material! :grin:

The most famous actress in China, Zhang Ziyi, whom stared in major world wide productions such as Rush Hour 2, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memorie of a Geshia etc... is being DETAINED AND QUESTIONED in relationship with the Bo case... HOLY SHITE

I guess one should say that if you pay to sleep with

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_Poster.jpg/220px-Memoirs_of_a_Geisha_Poster.jpg
Then getting the firing squad is perfectly legit :evil:

Wow RW.....lets us know how this turns? Bo wasn't involved with Zhang Ziyi was he?

RollingWave
05-29-2012, 10:02 AM
That's what the rumors say anyway, that Bo slept with Zhang for something like a milliions bucks a night. rumor is flying that Zhang is not allowed to leave China for now. not THAT's a scandal. lol

Conley
05-29-2012, 10:13 AM
That's what the rumors say anyway, that Bo slept with Zhang for something like a milliions bucks a night. rumor is flying that Zhang is not allowed to leave China for now. not THAT's a scandal. lol


This story is freaking nuts! :laugh:

MMC
05-29-2012, 10:19 AM
That's what the rumors say anyway, that Bo slept with Zhang for something like a milliions bucks a night. rumor is flying that Zhang is not allowed to leave China for now. not THAT's a scandal. lol

:shocked: a Million Dollars.....one nite? He should have went for the Weekend at Bernies. Just sayin. I'll bet she wished she went to Cannes rather than staying in China. Well this guy can't be Bond.....if he has to pay for it. :grin:

RollingWave
05-29-2012, 12:10 PM
well no but he's like a super bond villan no, one of the crazy rumor is that his wife seem to have some mental issue because she once showed up at a party in her father's (a former PLA general) military dress... and the brit they killed with suspicious MI6 ties? this story makes them bond movies suddenly seem believable lol.

MMC
05-29-2012, 12:34 PM
well no but he's like a super bond villan no, one of the crazy rumor is that his wife seem to have some mental issue because she once showed up at a party in her father's (a former PLA general) military dress... and the brit they killed with suspicious MI6 ties? this story makes them bond movies suddenly seem believable lol.

Have they released her yet? She is probably under house arrest.....huh? Didn't you say his son was in the US?

RollingWave
05-29-2012, 12:41 PM
yeah their son is in the US, recently graduated from Harvard Post grad, i'd wager quite a lot of money that he's not going to go back to China anytime soon, if ever.

MMC
05-29-2012, 12:44 PM
yeah their son is in the US, recently graduated from Harvard Post grad, i'd wager quite a lot of money that he's not going to go back to China anytime soon, if ever.

What will the effect on be on any parties.....if any?

RollingWave
05-29-2012, 08:35 PM
well, it's a series of scandal for them, the Bo case is actually still somewhat controversial since under his watch the cities of Dalian and ChongQing did pretty well, and as far as personal corruption goes those aren't the most insane in relative terms, the actual more serious scandal is probably the one involving the railway minister, as China's rail (highspeed or not) have been under huge criticism for ages, so few's crying when the long time minister got arrested and charged with massive corruption.

One can spin this in many ways, on the one hand it's not bad to see them at least make some efforts at corruption, on the other hand the Bo case seems much more political than not. either way it is cutting into the people's trust in the CCP, which is why you hear more sane / reform minded folks at the top like Wen Jia Bao or Guang Dong province governor Wang Yang (who's like the anti Bo Xi Lai, as he came with no background at all, and his policy generally leans a lot more western in many sense, including letting GuangDong be the first province to seriously legalize unions and union elections.) keep touting that real political reform must come and must come soon.

you can see in recent years that it really doesn't take much to start an incident in China these days which can lead to or at least close to a full blown riot, a rumor, true or not, often is enough. the people lack of trust in most government related stuff, from civil servants to policemens. is a serious factor.

Though most countries in this stage of development is gonna be messy, (in comparison, one can look at roughly early 20th C or late 19th C USA and see enough similarity .) China is comming close to a point where their decision will deicide rather China stay at where it is now for a long time or actually take another step foward.

MMC
05-29-2012, 08:58 PM
well, it's a series of scandal for them, the Bo case is actually still somewhat controversial since under his watch the cities of Dalian and ChongQing did pretty well, and as far as personal corruption goes those aren't the most insane in relative terms, the actual more serious scandal is probably the one involving the railway minister, as China's rail (highspeed or not) have been under huge criticism for ages, so few's crying when the long time minister got arrested and charged with massive corruption.

One can spin this in many ways, on the one hand it's not bad to see them at least make some efforts at corruption, on the other hand the Bo case seems much more political than not. either way it is cutting into the people's trust in the CCP, which is why you hear more sane / reform minded folks at the top like Wen Jia Bao or Guang Dong province governor Wang Yang (who's like the anti Bo Xi Lai, as he came with no background at all, and his policy generally leans a lot more western in many sense, including letting GuangDong be the first province to seriously legalize unions and union elections.) keep touting that real political reform must come and must come soon.

you can see in recent years that it really doesn't take much to start an incident in China these days which can lead to or at least close to a full blown riot, a rumor, true or not, often is enough. the people lack of trust in most government related stuff, from civil servants to policemens. is a serious factor.

Though most countries in this stage of development is gonna be messy, (in comparison, one can look at roughly early 20th C or late 19th C USA and see enough similarity .) China is comming close to a point where their decision will deicide rather China stay at where it is now for a long time or actually take another step foward.

Good Post RW.....Thanks! :wink:

URF8
05-29-2012, 10:18 PM
I sometimes wonder if the CCP is just another dynasty trying to hold on to the Mandate of Heaven. The Party sometimes seems like a strange fusion of Confucianism with Leninism.

RollingWave
05-30-2012, 08:13 AM
I sometimes wonder if the CCP is just another dynasty trying to hold on to the Mandate of Heaven. The Party sometimes seems like a strange fusion of Confucianism with Leninism.
yup, and more of the fomer by the day ;)

Wang Yang, the relative more reform minded GuangDong governor, summed it up well a few days ago with this comment " we can not keep making the people believe that their rights and well being is a gift from the state"

MMC
05-30-2012, 08:23 AM
In what context does that apply RW......that the rights are theirs first over believing such is a gift from the state? Or that Chinese Politicans need to start doing that?

RollingWave
05-30-2012, 12:02 PM
in that the current setup is sort of like assuming that the rights and well being are a gift given by the state to the people, Wang argue that can't last, since the truth is generally the other way around ... or at least a matter of co-existence.

URF8
05-30-2012, 02:51 PM
yup, and more of the fomer by the day ;)

Wang Yang, the relative more reform minded GuangDong governor, summed it up well a few days ago with this comment " we can not keep making the people believe that their rights and well being is a gift from the state"

Wang Yang isn't part of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Party is he?

RollingWave
05-30-2012, 09:17 PM
not yet, though most people figure that barring a Bo like episode he will be soon enough. probably as soon as this current turnover. IIRC Wen Jia Bao seems to see him as an idealogoical comardefor the most part (At least in political ideology, though not so much in economic once). while his main criticizor was the now ousted Bo (mostly criticizing that he leans too much to the general western thoughts).


Still, it's not like traditional Chinese thoughts are a singular blocks without many conflicting opinons anyway. the stereotypical late imperial Confucian is hardly the only thought process of pre-modern China, merely what the imperial dynastys took out of them for their own interest, for example Men Zhi in his work wrote that "The people is of the upmost importance, followed by society, with the rulers being the most unimportant." (a sentence that got banned in the Ming dynasty heh)

RollingWave
06-01-2012, 02:36 AM
Zhang Ziyi showed up and predictablly denied all the rumors and will sue the main Hong Kong gossip paper a ridiculas amount of money, of course now rumors are lying that because she actually slepted with many other high officals anyway so they bailed her out :afro: , get your chairs and pop-corn everyone, this is going to be a wild one.