Wang Lijun, Forgery of an Icon

In 2012, Wang Lijun, who was once a feared police chief, his fleeing to the US consulate triggered China’s biggest political scandal in a generation. Wang revealed a tale of murder and corruption in Chongqing involving his boss, Bo Xilai, and Bo’s wife Gu Kailai. Bo was a popular leader and a contender for the top position in the Communist party. It was just prior to the 18th National Congress of Communist Party of China, during which the states’ guards were changing with tremendous impact on China's future. Throughout 2012, Chongqing has been in the spotlight of media both in China and abroad. By the time when the judicial process of the “Chongqing incident” had been close to an end in some parts, it was still not easy for Chinese reporters to explore this matter, due to tremendous pressure and various restrictions. Thus, high-quality reports were absent. The truth about Chongqing was not revealed to the public in a convincing way until December 17 when the series "Uncovering Wang Lijun" came out.


"Uncovering Wang Lijun" reports on the case of Neil Heywood murder, give a thorough analysis of Wang Lijun, reflect the relations between the police and media, and describe in details the political scene in Chongqing for the last three years. This series is considered to be among the most influential reports in Chinese mainland in 2012.


This series was conducted by a young team, led by Simon Shen(Chinese pen-name is Shi Feike), a senior investigative reporter. The team focused on Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai from 2009, when Wang Lijun began gang-busting in Chongqing, three years before their fall from grace. They were trying to trace the truth in Chongqing, when gang busting became Wang and Bo’s fist to purge dissidents and plunder private entrepreneurs. The team were once blacklisted by Wang, but they didn’t yield to various pressure. With accurate judgment, critical analysis and no fear for sacrifices they completed the reports successfully.In March 2013, the series gained the annual award of Southern Weekly for 2012, and the annual all media award of the Southern Metropolis Company.


This series contains 50,000 words, and is consisted of eight reports, including a lengthy review titled "Wang Lijun, the forgery of an icon", six investigative reports named respectively "Trigger for Wang's Fleeing", "Tracing the Truth of Chongqing Gang-Busting", "Academic Superstar Wang Lijun", "Managing the Police", "Make-up Artist Wang Lijun" and “From Tieling to Jinzhou", and a feature article called "Wang Lijun Dictionary".