On October 26, 2024, a new Party Secretary, Chen Bozhang, has assumed office at the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance in China. He succeeded his predecessor, Liu Wenjie, who tragically passed away on September 19 after falling from a building along with two suspected assailants, in a case that remains shrouded in mystery.
Chen Bozhang has been appointed as the Party Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance and will oversee all aspects of the work. In accordance with the usual practice of the Communist Party of China, Chen Bozhang will also concurrently serve as the director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance.
Publicly available information reveals that Chen Bozhang, born in October 1969 in Yiyang, Hunan Province, has held various positions within the Hunan Provincial Audit Office over the years. He served as the Deputy Director of the Special Leadership Group for Economic Responsibility Audit Work of Hunan Province in 2011, Deputy Director of the Hunan Provincial Audit Office in 2014, Deputy Director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance in 2019, and had various roles within the audit and finance sectors until assuming his most recent position.
Previously, Liu Wenjie held the position of Party Secretary and Director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance. In a tragic incident on September 20, the department announced Liu Wenjie’s untimely death, stating that he was “fatally attacked” and died on September 19, 2024, in Changsha, Hunan. That night, the local police reported that Liu Wenjie, along with two others, fell to their deaths at his residence in Changsha, with the other two individuals identified as the suspects Jiang Yuhui and Jiang Hui.
According to the police report, the furniture and clothes in Liu Wenjie’s home were found in disarray, and the suspects left behind a black backpack containing tools such as a hook-ended nylon rope (about 3 meters long), rubber gloves, and pliers.
The circumstances surrounding Liu Wenjie’s murder remain unclear to this day. Earlier reports by Caixin detailed the backgrounds and motives of the two suspects, Jiang Yuhui and Jiang Hui. Jiang Yuhui, who was reportedly in debt to the tune of tens of millions of yuan, was claimed by his father to have ample assets and therefore no financial motive for committing robbery or other crimes.
Following the incident, Jiang Hui’s wife took to social media to proclaim his innocence, expressing disbelief that her husband would orchestrate the kidnapping of the department director before jumping to his death, and raising suspicions that her husband was a victim of foul play.
Currently, there has been no official disclosure of the motive behind the suspects’ actions.
In a stunning revelation on September 27, independent commentator Cai Shenkun disclosed on a self-media program that the current Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Fu Kui, who had previously served as the Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Hunan Provincial Committee, had a close relationship with Liu Wenjie. Fu Kui’s son, engaged in real estate business, faced financial difficulties, prompting Fu to approach Liu Wenjie for help in raising 60 million yuan. Liu then enlisted the help of Jiang Yuhui to secure the funds at an interest rate of 15%, with Liu providing the guarantee. Jiang ultimately borrowed 60 million yuan through private lending.
Reportedly, due to the sluggish real estate market, Fu Kui’s son was unable to repay the loan and interest. Feeling pressured, Jiang Yuhui frequently contacted Liu for repayment. On the day of the incident, Jiang Yuhui and Jiang Hui confronted Liu Wenjie at his home demanding repayment, which escalated into a dispute resulting in Liu’s and Jiang Hui’s fatal falls, with Jiang Yuhui accidentally falling to his death while attempting to flee.