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Zhou Benshun (Chinese:周本顺; born February 1953) is a former Chinese politician. Between 2013 and 2015, he served as theChinese Communist Party Committee Secretary and the top official ofHebei Province.^[1][2] Prior to his post in Hebei, Zhou Benshun was the Secretary-General of theCentral Political and Legal Affairs Commission, serving under disgraced domestic security chiefZhou Yongkang.^[3][4]

On July 24, 2015, he was detained for investigation by theCentral Commission for Discipline Inspection, then expelled from the party several months later.^[5][6] Zhou was the first incumbent provincial party secretary to be targeted by the Chinese government's anti-graft campaign since 2012.^[7][8]

Zhou Benshun was born in 1953 inXupu County,Hunan province. He joined theChinese Communist Party in September 1971.^[1][2]

From 1972 to 1975 Zhou attended Changchun Institute of Geology (now part ofJilin University) inJilin province.^[9] After finishing university in December 1975, he taught at the Hunan School of Geology until 1985.^[2]

In January 1985, Zhou Benshun began working at the Policy Research Office of Hunan province, becoming its director in 1994.^[9] At the end of 1994 he was appointedChinese Communist Party Deputy Committee Secretary of theprefecture-level city ofShaoyang, Hunan, rising toChinese Communist Party Committee Secretary the following year.^[9] From 2000 to 2003 he was the Director of Public Security of Hunan province, i.e., the provincial police chief.^[1] A year later, Zhou entered the Hunanprovincial Party Standing Committee as the head of the provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei).^[2]

In November 2003 Zhou was transferred to the central government in Beijing to become the Deputy Secretary General of theCentral Political and Legal Affairs Commission,^[1][2] working under Secretary GeneralWang Shengjun. In March 2008, Wang was promoted to President of theSupreme Court, and Zhou succeeded Wang as secretary general. For the next five years Zhou Benshun worked essentially as chief of staff toZhou Yongkang (no relation), one of China's top leader (a member of thePolitburo Standing Committee) who was then the head of the commission.^[10] During hisZhengfawei stint, Zhou served in a series of other roles, including leading the office ofXinjiang affairs, and deputy director of theCentral Public Security Comprehensive Management Commission; he was seen as one of the leading figures of theZhengfawei world and a trusted lieutenant of Zhou Yongkang.^[11]

In 2012, the son ofLing Jihua crashed in a Ferrari on one of Beijing's ring roads, unleashing highly unanticipated political consequences. Some overseas Chinese media reported that Zhou Benshun was dispatched to handle the fallout from the crash.^[12]

In March 2013, Zhou Benshun was appointed the party chief ofHebei province, replacingZhang Qingli, who became Vice Chairman of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was a member of the18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.^[1][2]

As Zhou Benshun has been associated with Zhou Yongkang for much of his career, rumours swirled about Zhou Benshun's fate since the senior Zhou was investigated for corruption in 2014. Zhou reportedly became meek and low-profile, and deferred many decisions toZhang Qingwei, governor of Hebei and his deputy, even for routine matters such as making closing statements at meetings.^[13]

Xi Jinping visited the Hebei party leadership in September 2013 to personally oversee ademocratic life meeting where senior officials criticized each other and engaged in self-criticism. Footage of the event was shown on national television. That Xi would himself preside over a provincial-level meeting, put immense pressure on Zhou. At the September 2013 "life meeting", Zhou was criticized by his colleagues as lacking in competence, and as "too tolerant, too soft."^[13]

Over a year later, in December 2014, the Hebei party committee again held a democratic life meeting, in which Zhou lamented his own inability to realize the goals of the anti-corruption campaign in Hebei province, because he was afraid of upsetting the balance of organizations he oversaw.^[14] Fellow provincial standing committee memberJing Chunhua commented, "comrade Benshun needs to practice more democracy when making policy decisions."Liang Bin said that "comrade Benshun needs to pay more attention to issues concerning officials."^[15] Jing Chunhua and Liang Bin both eventually fell under the axe of the anti-corruption campaign.

On July 24, 2015, theCentral Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party's top anti-corruption body, placed Zhou under investigation. Zhou was the first sitting provincial party leader to be placed under investigation since the anti-corruption campaign began after the 18th Party Congress.^[13] Earlier that day, Zhou attended a Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration conference hosted by Vice PremierZhang Gaoli; he was detained shortly after the meeting ended. Zhou's downfall was extremely abrupt. Several days earlier Zhou had visitedBeidaihe District, ostensibly to make preparations for the annualBeidaihe Conference of top Communist leaders.^[16]

Zhou's downfall was a significant political event; prior to Zhou, the removal of provincial-level party chiefs had only happened three times in post-Cultural Revolution history: Beijing party chiefChen Xitong in 1995, Shanghai party chiefChen Liangyu in 2006, and Chongqing party chiefBo Xilai in 2012. Former Hebei party chiefCheng Weigao (term 1993–1998) had also been disgraced, but not during his term as party chief.

On October 16, 2015, Zhou was expelled from the Communist Party. The investigation concluded that Zhou had voiced opinions contrary to the spirit of the policies of the party center, frequented private clubs, accepted bribes and leaked state secrets.^[17]

On February 15, 2017, Zhou was sentenced on 15 years in prison for taking bribes worth 40.01 million yuan (~$5.83 million) by the Intermediate People's Court inXiamen.^[18]

Zhou is known for his hard-line political views, generally expressing views that the law must be seen primarily as a means to keep society in order rather than as a means for citizens to seek fairness and justice. In a 2011 article published inQiushi, Zhou described the concept ofcivil society as a "trap" being sold by Western countries.^[19] Zhou also said that China would never adopt "separation of powers". He said that the law must achieve a mix of "legal, social, and political results."^[15]

• Living people
• 1953 births
• Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan
• People's Republic of China politicians from Hunan
• Political office-holders in Hebei
• Political office-holders in Hunan
• Politicians from Huaihua
• Purged Chinese politicians
• Jilin University alumni
• Wuhan University alumni
• Hunan University alumni
• People expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 2015
• Chinese police officers
• Chinese politicians convicted of corruption
• Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

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