On the evening of February 11, 2011, the night in Beijing was so dark that it seemed unbreakable. Liu Zhijun, the “Railway Emperor” of China, had just returned to Beijing in a dusty rush from out of town, barely having time to catch his breath. Several disciplinary commission investigators appeared silently and took him into the endless darkness.
The next day, he was removed from the position of Party Secretary of the Ministry of Railways; half a month later, his ministerial throne vanished into thin air. This legendary figure who had spearheaded the high-speed rail “Great Leap Forward” plummeted from the peak of power into the cold confinement of Qin Cheng Prison overnight. His crime? Accepting bribes of over 64.6 million yuan, with a suspended death sentence and confiscation of all his assets.
What kind of greed and ambition led to the downfall of a grassroots figure who fought his way up to power, plunging into an irreversible abyss? Today, let’s uncover this story, the destruction of Liu Zhijun’s path, and how many unknown secrets it harbors.
Liu Zhijun started from the lowest point possible. He wasn’t a “second-generation red,” “second-generation official,” or “second-generation rich.” He was born into an ordinary rural family in Hubei, starting as an inconspicuous maintenance worker on the railway in his youth. He endured harsh conditions, toiling under the sun and sweat soaking his back. With his hands wielding the pickaxe, repairing the tracks, his days were tough and exhausting.
But Liu Zhijun was no ordinary person. He had a spirit of refusing to be defeated, a sharp mind, explosive execution power, and an astonishingly huge ambition. From a maintenance worker to a station master, from a station master to a bureau chief, step by step, he climbed to the top of the railway system through hard work and shrewdness.
At 43, he became the Deputy Minister of Railways; at 50, he ascended to the position of Minister of Railways, becoming the helmsman of Chinese Railways, controlling billions of funds and countless engineering projects. This wasn’t achieved by merely buttering up others; people around him said that Liu Zhijun was a bona fide “workaholic,” daring and decisive, taking swift actions. His rise could be called the textbook example of a grassroots counterattack.
However, the story was far from reaching its end. The taste of power, like strong liquor, intoxicated him and led him astray.
After becoming the Minister of Railways, Liu Zhijun became the “Railway Emperor” of the railway empire.
At that time, the Chinese railway system was indeed an “independent kingdom,” with integrated government and enterprise, highly centralized. From the Ministry of Railways to the railway bureaus, down to the subdivisions and station sections, vertical management was implemented, making it difficult for local authorities to interfere. The Ministry of Railways even had its own public security, procuratorate, court, hospitals, schools, enterprises, forming a self-sufficient “small country.”
Once Liu Zhijun became the minister, his power was unchallengeable, and his words were law.
Those who worked in the office of the Ministry of Railways revealed that internally, nobody referred to Liu Zhijun as “minister”; instead, he was respectfully addressed as “chief.” Why? Because the term “minister” was too common in the Ministry of Railways, with propaganda ministers, organization ministers, and a bunch of other ministers, but there was only one Liu Zhijun, so he had to be called “chief.”
A classic saying circulated within the railway system: “As long as Chief Liu lets us drink, whether it’s liquor or pesticide, we have to drink it!” This indicated how terrifying his power was.
The tendering of railway projects became Liu Zhijun’s “show of power.” Almost all major railway construction projects were subject to his approval. Those in charge of the projects had to carefully “consult” Liu Zhijun: “What instructions does the chief have?” With a single word, Liu Zhijun could determine the project’s fate.
With such immense power, those underneath him competed to curry favor with him, buying and selling official positions became commonplace. From receiving his first bribe in 1986 to being arrested in 2011, Liu Zhijun’s “bribery history” spanned 25 years.
For example, he accepted over 7.44 million yuan from officials of Zhengzhou Railway Bureau, assisting them in becoming directors of Liuzhou Railway Bureau and Nanchang Railway Bureau.
Liu Zhijun’s ambitions were not limited to being a minister; he aimed to climb even higher on the Communist Party ladder, which required substantial bribes in gold and silver to superiors. Where did the money come from? It was obtained through the exchange of power.
Speaking of which, we must mention a crucial figure – a female entrepreneur from Shanxi, Ding Shumiao (later renamed Ding Yuxin). She was Liu Zhijun’s “money bag” and “ATM.”
Their modus operandi was crude yet effective: Liu Zhijun would “arrange” for certain companies to win railway project bids through his subordinates, and Ding Shumiao would then charge exorbitant intermediary fees from the awarded companies.
From 2007 to 2010, Ding Shumiao helped 23 companies secure 57 railway projects, with a total value of a whopping 180 billion yuan. Among them, 53 projects were personally “taken care of” by Liu Zhijun, and the other four were also due to Ding Yuxin’s relationship with Liu Zhijun. During this period, she earned over 2 billion yuan in intermediary fees.
Though these huge sums were recorded under Ding Shumiao’s name, as long as Liu Zhijun gave the order, the money was available on demand! After Ding Shumiao was arrested, law enforcement confiscated her 374 properties, immense cash, stocks, precious calligraphy, and paintings, which were essentially the “shared assets” of her and Liu Zhijun.
The relationship between Ding Shumiao and Liu Zhijun was not just business partners. She admitted that they had known each other for over a decade, gradually escalating from ordinary friends. When Liu Zhijun was still the Deputy Minister, she made money through rail transport permissions; and when he aimed to become a Minister, she orchestrated various activities for him, even spending a huge sum to “smooth out” troubles for him.
For instance, when Liu Zhijun’s close aide, He Hongda, was taken away by the disciplinary commission, who had previously given 100,000 US dollars to Liu Zhijun, equivalent to 827,700 yuan. Concerned that He Hongda’s case could implicate him, Liu Zhijun urgently had Ding Shumiao intervene to resolve the situation, costing her 44 million yuan.
Furthermore, to ensure that Liu Zhijun could secure a position as the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee after stepping down as minister, Ding Shumiao paid 5 million yuan to cultivate relationships.
This “money-power alliance” was nothing short of a crazy game of wealth plunder.
You might wonder, isn’t the supervision system of the Communist Party very strict? With central leadership, the disciplinary commission, the State Council, the Supervisory Department, the Prosecutor’s Office, as well as the political consultative conference, democratic parties, and media supervision… How did they allow Liu Zhijun to brazenly indulge in corruption for eight years?
The answer is simple: the supervision was virtually nonexistent! During Liu Zhijun’s eight years as minister, the departments and leaders responsible for oversight hardly lifted a finger against him.
In 2006, Liu Zhijun’s brother, Liu Zhixiang, was sentenced to a suspended death penalty for hiring hitmen, corruption, and bribery, involving over 40 million yuan. Some people reported that Liu Zhixiang’s case was inevitably linked to Liu Zhijun. Informant Wang Hanlin stated that he wrote to the central authorities in 2006, naming the problems of Liu Zhijun and mentioned two individuals, Cai Xianhui and Gao Jun, whom Liu Zhixiang had sent to deliver money to Liu Zhijun.
However, all these leads went unaddressed. Cai Xianhui was later hunted down due to a dispute over benefits with Liu Zhixiang, was captured on the Yunnan border but released after a three-month investigation, only to mysteriously “die suddenly” at home on the third day. However, none of these leads were thoroughly investigated. It wasn’t until 2009, during the National Audit Office’s audit of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail, that they discovered Ding Shumiao’s shady dealings, leading to the uncovering of Liu Zhijun.
Liu Zhijun not only coveted money but also lust. Ding Shumiao wasn’t just his “money bag” but also his “pimp.”
In 1996, Xiamen Yuhua Group CEO Lai Changxing invested hundreds of millions in a grand and luxurious red chamber to entice officials with money and beauty. Ding Shumiao learned even faster, creating an exclusive “Red Chamber” for Liu Zhijun.
In 2009, Ding Shumiao invested 50 million yuan to participate in the filming of the new version of the TV drama “A Dream of Red Mansions.” Why? Because the crew was full of beautiful women! In 2013, shocking information was revealed in court: Ding Shumiao sent all the “Twelve Hairpins,” maids, and female employees from the crew to “serve” Liu Zhijun, sparing none!
This “Red Chamber” became Liu Zhijun’s private paradise but also the abyss of his moral decline.
In May 2012, Liu Zhijun was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office. In July 2013, the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court issued a sentence that shocked the nation: Liu Zhijun was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting over 64.6 million yuan in bribes, with all his personal assets confiscated. Today, he still lingers in torment at Qin Cheng Prison.
However, this judgment left many dumbfounded. Rumors had long circulated among the public that Liu Zhijun was purportedly “Liu the Billionaire,” with corrupt assets exceeding 12 billion yuan! Compared to the over 2 billion illicit profits earned with Ding Shumiao, the 64.6 million yuan bribe amount seemed like a drop in the bucket! Some lawyers openly questioned, “Liu Zhijun has 374 properties under his name alone, valued at over 800 million yuan, so why did the prosecutor’s office only determine 64.6 million?”
As for Ding Shumiao? She was sentenced to 20 years for bribery and illegal operation, fined 250 million yuan, with 20 million yuan of assets confiscated. Yet, the case of Liu Zhijun still carries unresolved mysteries.
In 2013, the State Council of the CCP announced the dissolution of the Ministry of Railways, merging it into the Ministry of Transport and the newly established National Railway Administration, reassigning its business responsibilities to the newly formed China Railway Corporation. The days of the Ministry of Railways’ “independent kingdom” came to an end.
After Liu Zhijun’s downfall, at least 15 vice-bureau-level officials in the railway system were ousted, including Transport Bureau Chief Zhang Shuguang, and Kunming Railway Bureau Chief Wen Qingliang, each receiving a suspended death sentence.
His successor, Sheng Guangzu, pledged with great solemnity upon taking office, declaring, “I, as well as party members of the organization, will absolutely not interfere in railway project approvals; in railway project tenders, procurement of materials and equipment, I will resolutely avoid special treatment, influence-peddling, favoritism, and undue interference.”
However, in 2023, he too was sentenced to 15 years for accepting 63 million yuan worth of bribes continuously from 2004 to 2022.
What does this show? Liu Zhijun’s corruption wasn’t just his personal issue but rather a microcosm of the entire system. As long as the CCP’s authoritarian system remains unchanged, corruption will persist.
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