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Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of
Chinese Leader, the prime minister,
Wen Jiabao
By DAVID BARBOZA
October 25, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/business/global/family-of-wen-jiabao-holds-a-hidden-
fortune-in-china.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0&pagewanted=print
BEIJING The mother of Chinas prime minister was a schoolteacher in northern
China. His father was ordered to tend pigs in one of Maos political campaigns. And
during childhood, my family was extremely poor, the prime minister, Wen Jiabao,
said in a speech last year.

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But now 90, the prime ministers mother, Yang Zhiyun, not only left poverty behind,
she became outright rich, at least on paper, according to corporate and regulatory
records. Just one investment in her name, in a large Chinese financial services
company, had a value of $120 million five years ago, the records show.
The details of how Ms. Yang, a widow, accumulated such wealth are not known, or
even if she was aware of the holdings in her name. But it happened after her son
was elevated to Chinas ruling elite, first in 1998 as vice prime minister and then five
years later as prime minister.
Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and
brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an
investigation by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory
records indicates that the prime ministers relatives some of whom, including his
wife, have a knack for aggressive deal making have controlled assets worth at
least $2.7 billion.
In many cases, the names of the relatives have been hidden behind layers of
partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends, work colleagues and business
partners. Untangling their financial holdings provides an unusually detailed look at
how politically connected people have profited from being at the intersection of
government and business as state influence and private wealth converge in Chinas
fast-growing economy.
Unlike most new businesses in China, the familys ventures sometimes received
financial backing from state-owned companies, including China Mobile, one of the
countrys biggest phone operators, the documents show. At other times, the
ventures won support from some of Asias richest tycoons. The Times found that Mr.
Wens relatives accumulated shares in banks, jewelers, tourist resorts,
telecommunications companies and infrastructure projects, sometimes by using
offshore entities.
The holdings include a villa development project in Beijing; a tire factory in northern
China; a company that helped build some of Beijings Olympic stadiums, including
the well-known Birds Nest; and Ping An Insurance, one of the worlds biggest
financial services companies.

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As prime minister in an economy that remains heavily state-driven, Mr. Wen, who is
best known for his simple ways and common touch, more importantly has broad
authority over the major industries where his relatives have made their fortunes.
Chinese companies cannot list their shares on a stock exchange without approval
from agencies overseen by Mr. Wen, for example. He also has the power to
influence investments in strategic sectors like energy and telecommunications.
Because the Chinese government rarely makes its deliberations public, it is not
known what role if any Mr. Wen, who is 70, has played in most policy or
regulatory decisions. But in some cases, his relatives have sought to profit from
opportunities made possible by those decisions.
The prime ministers younger brother, for example, has a company that was
awarded more than $30 million in government contracts and subsidies to handle
wastewater treatment and medical waste disposal for some of Chinas biggest cities,
according to estimates based on government records. The contracts were
announced after Mr. Wen ordered tougher regulations on medical waste disposal in
2003 after the SARS outbreak.
In 2004, after the State Council, a government body Mr. Wen presides over,
exempted Ping An Insurance and other companies from rules that limited their
scope, Ping An went on to raise $1.8 billion in an initial public offering of stock.
Partnerships controlled by Mr. Wens relatives along with their friends and
colleagues made a fortune by investing in the company before the public offering.
In 2007, the last year the stock holdings were disclosed in public documents, those
partnerships held as much as $2.2 billion worth of Ping An stock, according to an
accounting of the investments by The Times that was verified by outside auditors.
Ping Ans overall market value is now nearly $60 billion.
Ping An said in a statement that the company did not know the background of the
entities behind our shareholders. The statement said, Ping An has no means to
know the intentions behind shareholders when they buy and sell our shares.
While Communist Party regulations call for top officials to disclose their wealth and
that of their immediate family members, no law or regulation prohibits relatives of
even the most senior officials from becoming deal-makers or major investors a

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loophole that effectively allows them to trade on their family name. Some Chinese
argue that permitting the families of Communist Party leaders to profit from the
countrys long economic boom has been important to ensuring elite support for
market-oriented reforms.
Even so, the business dealings of Mr. Wens relatives have sometimes been hidden
in ways that suggest the relatives are eager to avoid public scrutiny, the records filed
with Chinese regulatory authorities show. Their ownership stakes are often veiled by
an intricate web of holdings as many as five steps removed from the operating
companies, according to the review.
In the case of Mr. Wens mother, The Times calculated her stake in Ping An
valued at $120 million in 2007 by examining public records and government-
issued identity cards, and by following the ownership trail to three Chinese
investment entities. The name recorded on his mothers shares was Taihong, a
holding company registered in Tianjin, the prime ministers hometown.
The apparent efforts to conceal the wealth reflect the highly charged politics
surrounding the countrys ruling elite, many of whom are also enormously wealthy
but reluctant to draw attention to their riches. When Bloomberg News reported in
June that the extended family of Vice President Xi Jinping, set to become Chinas
next president, had amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, the Chinese
government blocked access inside the country to the Bloomberg Web site.
In the senior leadership, theres no family that doesnt have these problems, said a
former government colleague of Wen Jiabao who has known him for more than 20
years and who spoke on the condition of anonymity. His enemies are intentionally
trying to smear him by letting this leak out.
The Times presented its findings to the Chinese government for comment. The
Foreign Ministry declined to respond to questions about the investments, the prime
minister or his relatives. Members of Mr. Wens family also declined to comment or
did not respond to requests for comment.
Duan Weihong, a wealthy businesswoman whose company, Taihong, was the
investment vehicle for the Ping An shares held by the prime ministers mother and
other relatives, said the investments were actually her own. Ms. Duan, who comes

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from the prime ministers hometown and is a close friend of his wife, said ownership
of the shares was listed in the names of Mr. Wens relatives in an effort to conceal
the size of Ms. Duans own holdings.
When I invested in Ping An I didnt want to be written about, Ms. Duan said, so I
had my relatives find some other people to hold these shares for me.
But it was an accident, she said, that her company chose the relatives of the prime
minister as the listed shareholders a process that required registering their official
ID numbers and obtaining their signatures. Until presented with the names of the
investors by The Times, she said, she had no idea that they had selected the
relatives of Wen Jiabao.
The review of the corporate and regulatory records, which covers 1992 to 2012,
found no holdings in Mr. Wens name. And it was not possible to determine from the
documents whether he recused himself from any decisions that might have affected
his relatives holdings, or whether they received preferential treatment on
investments.
For much of his tenure, Wen Jiabao has been at the center of rumors and conjecture
about efforts by his relatives to profit from his position. Yet until the review by The
Times, there has been no detailed accounting of the familys riches.
His wife, Zhang Beili, is one of the countrys leading authorities on jewelry and
gemstones and is an accomplished businesswoman in her own right. By managing
state diamond companies that were later privatized, The Times found, she helped
her relatives parlay their minority stakes into a billion-dollar portfolio of insurance,
technology and real estate ventures.
The couples only son sold a technology company he started to the family of Hong
Kongs richest man, Li Ka-shing, for $10 million, and used another investment
vehicle to establish New Horizon Capital, now one of Chinas biggest private equity
firms, with partners like the government of Singapore, according to records and
interviews with bankers.
The prime ministers younger brother, Wen Jiahong, controls $200 million in assets,
including wastewater treatment plants and recycling businesses, the records show.

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As prime minister, Mr. Wen has staked out a position as a populist and a reformer,
someone whom the state-run media has nicknamed the Peoples Premier and
Grandpa Wen because of his frequent outings to meet ordinary people, especially
in moments of crisis like natural disasters.
While it is unclear how much the prime minister knows about his familys wealth,
State Department documents released by the WikiLeaks organization in 2010
included a cable that suggested Mr. Wen was aware of his relatives business
dealings and unhappy about them.
Wen is disgusted with his familys activities, but is either unable or unwilling to
curtail them, a Chinese-born executive working at an American company in
Shanghai told American diplomats, according to the 2007 cable.
Chinas Diamond Queen
It is no secret in Chinas elite circles that the prime ministers wife, Zhang Beili, is
rich, and that she has helped control the nations jewelry and gem trade. But her
lucrative diamond businesses became an off-the-charts success only as her husband
moved into the countrys top leadership ranks, the review of corporate and
regulatory records by The Times found.
A geologist with an expertise in gemstones, Ms. Zhang is largely unknown among
ordinary Chinese. She rarely travels with the prime minister or appears with him,
and there are few official photographs of the couple together. And while people who
have worked with her say she has a taste for jade and fine diamonds, they say she
usually dresses modestly, does not exude glamour and prefers to wield influence
behind the scenes, much like the relatives of other senior leaders.
The State Department documents released by WikiLeaks included a suggestion that
Mr. Wen had once considered divorcing Ms. Zhang because she had exploited their
relationship in her diamond trades. Taiwanese television reported in 2007 that Ms.
Zhang had bought a pair of jade earrings worth about $275,000 at a Beijing trade
show, though the source a Taiwanese trader later backed off the claim and
Chinese government censors moved swiftly to block coverage of the subject in
China, according to news reports at the time.

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Her business activities are known to everyone in the leadership, said one banker
who worked with relatives of Wen Jiabao. The banker said it was not unusual for her
office to call upon businesspeople. And if you get that call, how can you say no?
Zhang Beili first gained influence in the 1990s, while working as a regulator at the
Ministry of Geology. At the time, Chinas jewelry market was still in its infancy.
While her husband was serving in Chinas main leadership compound, known as
Zhongnanhai, Ms. Zhang was setting industry standards in the jewelry and gem
trade. She helped create the National Gemstone Testing Center in Beijing, and the
Shanghai Diamond Exchange, two of the industrys most powerful institutions.
In a country where the state has long dominated the marketplace, jewelry regulators
often decided which companies could set up diamond-processing factories, and
which would gain entry to the retail jewelry market. State regulators even
formulated rules that required diamond sellers to buy certificates of authenticity for
any diamond sold in China, from the government-run testing center in Beijing, which
Ms. Zhang managed.
As a result, when executives from Cartier or De Beers visited China with hopes of
selling diamonds and jewelry here, they often went to visit Ms. Zhang, who became
known as Chinas diamond queen.
Shes the most important person there, said Gaetano Cavalieri, president of the
World Jewelry Confederation in Switzerland. She was bridging relations between
partners Chinese and foreign partners.
As early as 1992, people who worked with Ms. Zhang said, she had begun to blur
the line between government official and businesswoman. As head of the state-
owned China Mineral and Gem Corporation, she began investing the state companys
money in start-ups. And by the time her husband was named vice premier, in 1998,
she was busy setting up business ventures with friends and relatives.
The state company she ran invested in a group of affiliated diamond companies,
according to public records. Many of them were run by Ms. Zhangs relatives or
colleagues who had worked with her at the National Gemstone Testing Center.

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In 1993, for instance, the state company Ms. Zhang ran helped found Beijing
Diamond, a big jewelry retailer. A year later, one of her younger brothers, Zhang
Jianming, and two of her government colleagues personally acquired 80 percent of
the company, according to shareholder registers. Beijing Diamond invested in
Shenzhen Diamond, which was controlled by her brother-in-law, Wen Jiahong, the
prime ministers younger brother.
Among the successful undertakings was Sino-Diamond, a venture financed by the
state-owned China Mineral and Gem Corporation, which she headed. The company
had business ties with a state-owned company managed by another brother, Zhang
Jiankun, who worked as an official in Jiaxing, Ms. Zhangs hometown, in Zhejiang
Province.
In the summer of 1999, after securing agreements to import diamonds from Russia
and South Africa, Sino-Diamond went public, raising $50 million on the Shanghai
Stock Exchange. The offering netted Ms. Zhangs family about $8 million, according
to corporate filings.
Although she was never listed as a shareholder, former colleagues and business
partners say Ms. Zhangs early diamond partnerships were the nucleus of a larger
portfolio of companies she would later help her family and colleagues gain a stake
in.
The Times found no indication that Wen Jiabao used his political clout to influence
the diamond companies his relatives invested in. But former business partners said
that the familys success in diamonds, and beyond, was often bolstered with
financial backing from wealthy businessmen who sought to curry favor with the
prime ministers family.
After Wen became prime minister, his wife sold off some of her diamond
investments and moved into new things, said a Chinese executive who did business
with the family. He asked not to be named because of fear of government
retaliation. Corporate records show that beginning in the late 1990s, a series of rich
businessmen took turns buying up large stakes in the diamond companies, often
from relatives of Mr. Wen, and then helped them reinvest in other lucrative ventures,
like real estate and finance.

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According to corporate records and interviews, the businessmen often supplied
accountants and office space to investment partnerships partly controlled by the
relatives.
When they formed companies, said one businessman who set up a company with
members of the Wen family, Ms. Zhang stayed in the background. Thats how it
worked.
The Only Son
Late one evening early this year, the prime ministers only son, Wen Yunsong, was in
the cigar lounge at Xiu, an upscale bar and lounge at the Park Hyatt in Beijing. He
was having cocktails as Beijings nouveau riche gathered around, clutching designer
bags and wearing expensive business suits, according to two guests who were
present.
In China, the children of senior leaders are widely believed to be in a class of their
own. Known as princelings, they often hold Ivy League degrees, get V.I.P.
treatment, and are even offered preferred pricing on shares in hot stock offerings.
They are also known as people who can get things done in Chinas heavily regulated
marketplace, where the state controls access. And in recent years, few princelings
have been as bold as the younger Mr. Wen, who goes by the English name Winston
and is about 40 years old.
A Times review of Winston Wens investments, and interviews with people who have
known him for years, show that his deal-making has been extensive and lucrative,
even by the standards of his princeling peers.
State-run giants like China Mobile have formed start-ups with him. In recent years,
Winston Wen has been in talks with Hollywood studios about a financing deal.
Concerned that China does not have an elite boarding school for Chinese students,
he recently hired the headmasters of Choate and Hotchkiss in Connecticut to
oversee the creation of a $150 million private school now being built in the Beijing
suburbs.

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Winston Wen and his wife, moreover, have stakes in the technology industry and an
electric company, as well as an indirect stake in Union Mobile Pay, the government-
backed online payment platform all while living in the prime ministers residence,
in central Beijing, according to corporate records and people familiar with the
familys investments.
Hes not shy about using his influence to get things done, said one venture
capitalist who regularly meets with Winston Wen.
The younger Mr. Wen declined to comment. But in a telephone interview, his wife,
Yang Xiaomeng, said her husband had been unfairly criticized for his business
dealings.
Everything that has been written about him has been wrong, she said. Hes really
not doing that much business anymore.
Winston Wen was educated in Beijing and then earned an engineering degree from
the Beijing Institute of Technology. He went abroad and earned a masters degree in
engineering materials from the University of Windsor, in Canada, and an M.B.A. from
the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., just
outside Chicago.
When he returned to China in 2000, he helped set up three successful technology
companies in five years, according to people familiar with those deals. Two of them
were sold to Hong Kong businessmen, one to the family of Li Ka-shing, one of the
wealthiest men in Asia.
Winston Wens earliest venture, an Internet data services provider called Unihub
Global, was founded in 2000 with $2 million in start-up capital, according to Hong
Kong and Beijing corporate filings. Financing came from a tight-knit group of
relatives and his mothers former colleagues from government and the diamond
trade, as well as an associate of Cheng Yu-tung, patriarch of Hong Kongs second-
wealthiest family. The firms earliest customers were state-owned brokerage houses
and Ping An, in which the Wen family has held a large financial stake.
He made an even bolder move in 2005, by pushing into private equity when he
formed New Horizon Capital with a group of Chinese-born classmates from

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Northwestern. The firm quickly raised $100 million from investors, including SBI
Holdings, a division of the Japanese group SoftBank, and Temasek, the Singapore
government investment fund.
Under Mr. Wen, New Horizon established itself as a leading private equity firm,
investing in biotech, solar, wind and construction equipment makers. Since it began
operations, the firm has returned about $430 million to investors, a fourfold profit,
according to SBI Holdings.
Their first fund was dynamite, said Kathleen Ng, editor of Asia Private Equity
Review, an industry publication in Hong Kong. And that allowed them to raise a lot
more money.
Today, New Horizon has more than $2.5 billion under management.
Some of Winston Wens deal-making, though, has attracted unwanted attention for
the prime minister.
In 2010, when New Horizon acquired a 9 percent stake in a company called Sihuan
Pharmaceuticals just two months before its public offering, the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange said the late-stage investment violated its rules and forced the firm to
return the stake. Still, New Horizon made a $46.5 million profit on the sale.
Soon after, New Horizon announced that Winston Wen had handed over day-to-day
operations and taken up a position at the China Satellite Communications
Corporation, a state-owned company that has ties to the Chinese space program. He
has since been named chairman.
The Tycoons
In the late 1990s, Duan Weihong was managing an office building and several other
properties in Tianjin, the prime ministers hometown in northern China, through her
property company, Taihong. She was in her 20s and had studied at the Nanjing
University of Science and Technology.
Around 2002, Ms. Duan went into business with several relatives of Wen Jiabao,
transforming her property company into an investment vehicle of the same name.
The company helped make Ms. Duan very wealthy.

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It is not known whether Ms. Duan, now 43, is related to the prime minister. In a
series of interviews, she first said she did not know any members of the Wen family,
but later described herself as a friend of the family and particularly close to Zhang
Beili, the prime ministers wife. As happened to a handful of other Chinese
entrepreneurs, Ms. Duans fortunes soared as she teamed up with the relatives and
their network of friends and colleagues, though she described her relationship with
them involving the shares in Ping An as existing on paper only and having no
financial component.
Ms. Duan and other wealthy businesspeople among them, six billionaires from
across China have been instrumental in getting multimillion-dollar ventures off the
ground and, at crucial times, helping members of the Wen family set up investment
vehicles to profit from them, according to investment bankers who have worked with
all parties.
Established in Tianjin, Taihong had spectacular returns. In 2002, the company paid
about $65 million to acquire a 3 percent stake in Ping An before its initial public
offering, according to corporate records and Ms. Duans graduate school thesis. Five
years later, those shares were worth $3.7 billion
The companys Hong Kong affiliate, Great Ocean, also run by Ms. Duan, later formed
a joint venture with the Beijing government and acquired a huge tract of land
adjacent to Capital International Airport. Today, the site is home to a sprawling
cargo and logistics center. Last year, Great Ocean sold its 53 percent stake in the
project to a Singapore company for nearly $400 million.
That deal and several other investments, in luxury hotels, Beijing villa developments
and the Hong Kong-listed BBMG, one of Chinas largest building materials
companies, have been instrumental to Ms. Duans accumulation of riches, according
to The Timess review of corporate records.
The review also showed that over the past decade there have been nearly three
dozen individual shareholders of Taihong, many of whom are either relatives of Wen
Jiabao or former colleagues of his wife.
The other wealthy entrepreneurs who have worked with the prime ministers
relatives declined to comment for this article. Ms. Duan strongly denied having

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financial ties to the prime minister or his relatives and said she was only trying to
avoid publicity by listing others as owning Ping An shares. The money I invested in
Ping An was completely my own, said Ms. Duan, who has served as a member of
the Ping An board of supervisors. Everything I did was legal.
Another wealthy partner of the Wen relatives has been Cheng Yu-tung, who controls
the Hong Kong conglomerate New World Development and is one of the richest men
in Asia, worth about $15 billion, according to Forbes.
In the 1990s, New World was seeking a foothold in mainland China for a sister
company that specializes in high-end retail jewelry. The retail chain, Chow Tai Fook,
opened its first store in China in 1998.
Mr. Cheng and his associates invested in a diamond venture backed by the relatives
of Mr. Wen and co-invested with them in an array of corporate entities, including
Sino-Life, National Trust and Ping An, according to records and interviews with some
of those involved. Those investments by Mr. Cheng are now worth at least $5 billion,
according to the corporate filings. Chow Tai Fook, the jewelry chain, has also
flourished. Today, China accounts for 60 percent of the chains $4.2 billion in annual
revenue.
Mr. Cheng, 87, could not be reached for comment. Calls to New World Development
were not returned.
Fallout for Premier
In the winter of 2007, just before he began his second term as prime minister, Wen
Jiabao called for new measures to fight corruption, particularly among high-ranking
officials.
Leaders at all levels of government should take the lead in the antigraft drive, he
told a gathering of high-level party members in Beijing. They should strictly ensure
that their family members, friends and close subordinates do not abuse government
influence.
The speech was consistent with the prime ministers earlier drive to toughen
disclosure rules for public servants, and to require senior officials to reveal their
family assets.

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Whether Mr. Wen has made such disclosures for his own family is unclear, since the
Communist Party does not release such information. Even so, many of the holdings
found by The Times would not need to be disclosed under the rules since they are
not held in the name of the prime ministers immediate family his wife, son and
daughter.
Eighty percent of the $2.7 billion in assets identified in The Timess investigation and
verified by the outside auditors were held by, among others, the prime ministers
mother, his younger brother, two brothers-in-law, a sister-in-law, daughter-in-law
and the parents of his sons wife, none of whom is subject to party disclosure rules.
The total value of the relatives stake in Ping An is based on calculations by The
Times that were confirmed by the auditors. The total includes shares held by the
relatives that were sold between 2004 and 2006, and the value of the remaining
shares in late 2007, the last time the holdings were publicly disclosed.
Legal experts said that determining the precise value of holdings in China could be
difficult because there might be undisclosed side agreements about the true
beneficiaries.
Complex corporate structures are not necessarily insidious, said Curtis J. Milhaupt,
a Columbia University Law School professor who has studied Chinas corporate group
structures. But in a system like Chinas, where corporate ownership and political
power are closely intertwined, shell companies magnify questions about who owns
what and where the money came from.
Among the investors in the Wen family ventures are longtime business associates,
former colleagues and college classmates, including Yu Jianming, who attended
Northwestern with Winston Wen, and Zhang Yuhong, a longtime colleague of Wen
Jiahong, the prime ministers younger brother. The associates did not return
telephone calls seeking comment.
Revelations about the Wen familys wealth could weaken him politically.
Next month, at the 18th Party Congress in Beijing, the Communist Party is expected
to announce a new generation of leaders. But the selection process has already been
marred by one of the worst political scandals in decades, the downfall of Bo Xilai, the
Chongqing party boss, who was vying for a top position.

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In Beijing, Wen Jiabao is expected to step down as prime minister in March at the
end of his second term. Political analysts say that even after leaving office he could
remain a strong backstage political force. But documents showing that his relatives
amassed a fortune during his tenure could diminish his standing, the analysts said.
This will affect whatever residual power Wen has, said Minxin Pei, an expert on
Chinese leadership and a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in
California.
The prime ministers supporters say he has not personally benefited from his
extended familys business dealings, and may not even be knowledgeable about the
extent of them.
Last March, the prime minister hinted that he was at least aware of the persistent
rumors about his relatives. During a nationally televised news conference in Beijing,
he insisted that he had never pursued personal gain in public office.
I have the courage to face the people and to face history, he said in an emotional
session. There are people who will appreciate what I have done, but there are also
people who will criticize me. Ultimately, history will have the final say.

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Wen Jiabao's 1.68bn family wealth: China
furious at US expos
New York Times website blocked after disclosing web of assets in new
embarrassment for Communist party
Tania Branigan in Beijing
The Guardian, Friday 26 October 2012 22.00 BST
Wen Jiabao in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. His family has accumulated
vast wealth during his time as China's premier, the New York Times reported.
Photograph: Petar Kujundzic/Reuters
China has lashed out at a US newspaper report that premier Wen Jiabao's family has
amassed vast wealth worth at least $2.7bn (1.68bn), censoring the New York
Times website and questioning the paper's motivations.
The story said Wen, widely seen as the humane face of China's top leadership, was
not directly linked to the holdings. But the association with such a fortune was in
stark contrast to the man-of-the-people image he has cultivated.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the report "blackens China's name and has
ulterior motives". Censors blocked the paper's Chinese language website, at least

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partially obstructed access to its main site, and banned microblog searches for New
York Times in English and Chinese.
"China manages the internet in accordance with laws and rules," spokesman Hong
Lei told reporters when asked why the sites were inaccessible.
The detailed account, based on company and regulatory filings, said several of
Wen's relatives had become extremely wealthy since his ascent to the top
leadership, controlling assets whose total worth is more than the GDP of Burundi. In
many cases their holdings were obscured by layers of partnerships and investment
vehicles involving friends, colleagues or business partners.
The report is damaging not only to Wen, but also to the Communist party. It has
faced months of unwelcome scrutiny while preparing for a once-in-a-decade
leadership transition mostly thanks to the scandal surrounding disgraced leader Bo
Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai's conviction for murdering a British businessman. On
Friday Bo was expelled from the country's legislature, as expected, paving the way
for his prosecution. He has been accused of corruption and abuse of power.
There has been a spate of revelations about wealth amassed by people around other
senior figures. Authorities blocked the Bloomberg website earlier this year after it
exposed the multi-million dollar assets held by the extended family of Xi Jinping,
heir-apparent to the presidency. It has also reported that Bo's relatives accumulated
at least $136m in assets.
The top leaders "are like paranoid, flying eagles," said Edward Friedman, professor
of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "If you are looking up
they look like the most powerful creatures in the world. But what they see is what a
long fall it would be. I think in their consciousness it is very much about all the
things that could go wrong."
He added that, at least among politically-conscious people in urban areas of China,
there seemed to have been a tremendous shift in mood since 2008, with patriotic
pride and suspicion about the west giving way to a growing sense that the regime
does not care about them.

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Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of Nottingham, said of
the US report: "It's the kind of story where the leadership is united."Wen is
implicated, Bo down Who's next? Part of the arrangement is that someone leaving
power is still protected after he leaves office, so that the system will continue."
Given the bad blood known to exist between Wen and Bo, many anticipate
supporters of the latter will seize on the report with glee. Others wonder if it may
reduce Wen's future influence. Although he is due to retire as premier, former
leaders still play a significant role in the party's decision-making.
Many people particularly among the elite had been aware of rumours about
Wen's relatives. But the scale of the reported assets is striking and the timing highly
sensitive.
While one Sina Weibo user described the report as a shock, another wrote: "Looking
at the numbers, I think it is still conservative."
Both remarks were swiftly deleted, as were other references to the New York Times
story. A BBC News report on the piece was also blocked in Beijing. Censorship
means many in China will remain unaware of the US account.
Wen has repeatedly urged China's leaders to ensure their families and associates do
not abuse government influence, and pushed for officials to disclose the assets of
their immediate families. Declarations are not public and the New York Times said
four-fifths of the assets it found were held by relatives not covered by party rules,
including his mother and various in-laws.
A former government colleague of Wen, speaking anonymously, told the New York
Times: "In the senior leadership, there's no family that doesn't have these problems
His enemies are intentionally trying to smear him by letting this leak out."
A US diplomatic cable obtained by Wikileaks, dating from 2007, quoted an executive
in Shanghai as saying: "Wen is disgusted with his family's activities, but is either
unable or unwilling to curtail them."
In March, the premier made an emotional defence of his tenure during his annual
press conference, saying history would have the final say and stressing that he had
never pursued personal gain.

19
Substantial holdings in the name of Wen's mother and other relatives were held via
an investment vehicle run by a wealthy businesswoman close to Wen's wife, Zhang
Beili. Duan Weihong told the New York Times the investments were her own. She
sought a low profile so had asked relatives to find others to hold the shares on her
behalf. They had "by accident" chosen the premier's relatives.
Zhang Beili, who is rarely seen with her husband, works in the diamond trade. Their
son Winston Wen runs New Horizon Capital, one of China's biggest private equity
funds.
His wife Yang Xiaomeng told the New York Times: "Everything that has been written
about him has been wrong. He's really not doing that much business any more."
The Times said members of Wen's family declined to comment or did not respond.
Separately, the Brookings Institution said the brother of the man expected to replace
Wen vice premier Li Keqiang should be moved from his senior post at China's
state-owned tobacco monopoly. Li oversees public health as part of his duties.
His younger brother, Li Keming, is deputy director of the tobacco body and Cheng Li,
author of the Brookings report, suggested his role might have set back attempts to
curb tobacco use in China.

20

21

22
China condemns NY Times Wen Jiabao
wealth story 'smear'
26 October 2012 Last updated at 09:59 GMT BBC
China has condemned as a "smear" a New York Times report saying Premier Wen
Jiabao's relatives have accumulated billions of dollars.
The article said Mr Wen's family members "have controlled assets worth at least
$2.7bn (1.7bn)".
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the report had "ulterior motives".
Both the NYT's Chinese and English sites are being blocked inside China, as are
references to the report on micro-blogging sites.
"Some reports smear China and have ulterior motives," Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hong Lei said when asked about the story in a daily press briefing. On the blocking,
he said the internet was managed "in accordance with laws".
Wealth gap
In its report, the New York Times said Mr Wen's relatives' holdings included
property, insurance and construction firms.
"Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and
brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership," the
newspaper wrote.
"In many cases, the names of the relatives have been hidden behind layers of
partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends, work colleagues and business
partners."
The family's investments reportedly spanned several sectors. The newspaper cited
one holding as Ping An, an insurance company which it said had benefited from
reforms enacted in 2004 by a state body over which Mr Wen had oversight.

23
It said that partnerships controlled by Mr Wen's relatives, along with their friends
and colleagues, had bought into the firm before its IPO, or stock market flotation, in
2004, and held as much as $2.2bn in the company in 2007.
The newspaper said both the Chinese government and Mr Wen's relatives declined
to comment on the investigation, which was based on corporate records from 1992-
2012.
No holdings were found in Mr Wen's name, it said, nor was it possible "to determine
from the documents whether he recused himself from any decisions that might have
affected his relatives' holdings, or whether they received preferential treatment on
investments".
China is sensitive about reports on its leaders, particularly when it comes to their
wealth.
A growing wealth gap is causing public discontent, as are the frequent corruption
scandals involving government officials.
When, in June 2012, a Bloomberg investigative report examined the finances of the
relatives of president-in-waiting Xi Jinping, the company's website was blocked in
China - even though the report said there was no indication of wrongdoing by him or
his family.
Mr Wen has been the Chinese premier for almost 10 years. He is due to step down
in a power transition that begins on 8 November.
He is seen as a popular figure with the common touch, and is portrayed in state
media as a leader with great concern for the lives of ordinary people.
A spokeswoman for New York Times said she hoped that full access to the websites
would be "restored shortly" in China.
The BBC has also been affected, with the BBC World News channel blocked when a
correspondent was asked about the story during a report, and the BBC News
website blocked later on Friday.

24
On China's Twitter-like weibo platforms, keywords such as Wen Jiabao and the New
York Times are blocked. Mr Wen's name, like most other Chinese leaders, has
always been a screened keyword.
Some netizens did manage to post the article despite heavy and rapid censorship. A
Sina Weibo user tweeted about the article from Kawagoe city in Japan, but his post
was removed after 11 minutes.
"The Twist Your Waist Times says the best actor has $2.7bn of assets. I just wonder
how will he spend it?" asked a Tencent Weibo user registered in the British West
Indies territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
"Twist your waist" in Chinese characters sounds like New York when spoken, while
"best actor" refers to Mr Wen, who critics say only pretends to be a people-first
leader.
Analysis
John Sudworth BBC News, Shanghai
Often referred to as "Grandpa Wen" by state media, the premier is one of the few
senior Chinese politicians with the popular touch, usually the first to appear at the
side of victims of earthquakes or other disasters as a kind of consoler-in-chief. But
there have long been rumours that his decade in the job has brought more tangible
benefits to his immediate family, and now the New York Times has put a figure on it.
The more than $2.7bn in controlled assets reported by the newspaper are held not
by the Chinese premier himself, but by his wife, mother, siblings, children, and their
in-laws. The figure though may not come as much of a shock to Mr Wen. A
WikiLeaks cable dated 2007 quoted a source as saying the premier was "disgusted"
by his family's activities.
But whether he disapproves or not, the investigation shows that much of the wealth
has been accumulated in areas of the economy over which he has direct authority.
Mr Wen is not the only senior leader over whom that kind of suspicion lingers, but
given his position, his public standing and his own championing of the anti-

25
corruption cause, the Times report will be seen by the authorities here as highly
sensitive and potentially damaging.
Bloomberg's website is still being blocked after it published, back in June, a similar
expose of the family wealth of the man tipped to be China's next leader, Xi Jinping.
It may be a while before readers in China get to see the New York Times online
again.
Is 'Grandpa Wen' as nice as he seems?
By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing 15 August 2010 Last updated at 23:59 GMT
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stood shoulder to shoulder with rescuers as they
searched for survivors at the scene of a recent landslide in Gansu province.
Dressed in casual clothes and wearing an expression of concern, he spoke words of
encouragement to residents trapped beneath the rubble of their collapsed homes.
"Folks, hold on - we're trying to pull you out," he shouted in the direction of where
two people were thought to be still alive.
This is not the first time Mr Wen has visited a disaster or shown sympathy with
ordinary people struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing society.
He has consoled the elderly, sympathised with stranded travellers and shed public
tears.
It has allowed the premier to become perhaps the country's favourite politician. He
is seen as a man of the people and known affectionately as Grandpa Wen.
But not everyone believes this image to be a true reflection of the premier's
character.
The title of a new book by Chinese writer Yu Jie leaves little doubt about the views
of its author. It is entitled China's Best Actor: Wen Jiabao.
Mr Yu contends that Mr Wen's frequent visits to the scenes of disaster are just a
show of concern; he does not support the policies that would really show he cares.

26
"[Chinese President] Hu Jintao's personality is steady and cold. He likes to give
orders from behind the scenes. Acting is not his strong point," reads one extract
from the book.
"Wen Jiabao makes up for his shortage. He likes to be down mines, visiting
farmhouses, crying his heart out," it goes on.
Mr Yu believes the premier is acting, only showing he cares so people will maintain
their trust in the government.
Contradictions
The 37-year-old writer is not alone in these views, but he is certainly in the minority
in China, as a selection of online comments following the premier's visit to the
landslide reveal.
"If we had more people like Grandpa Wen in China, our country would be more
civilised, stronger and richer," said one bowled-over internet user.
"We have no fear when disaster happens because we have such a good premier,"
said another.
But Mr Yu, who has no special contacts within the higher echelons of the Chinese
Communist Party, merely advises readers to consider the facts.
"The policies supported by the premier are very different from his behaviour in front
of the media and the public. Sometimes they contradict each other," said the writer
in an interview.
Mr Yu, whose book is out on Monday, cites the example of the Sichuan earthquake
in 2008.
While visiting Sichuan, Mr Wen promised parents whose children died in their
classrooms that they would be told why so many schools collapsed in the
earthquake.
But the premier never followed up on that promise, said Mr Yu. Instead,
independent researchers who tried to find their own answers to this question have
been locked up.

27
It is difficult to assess the accuracy of the author's viewpoint: Chinese politicians,
even Mr Wen, rarely give interviews and those they do tend to focus on policies not
image.
But one man who has worked with Mr Wen, former official Bao Tong, who lost his
job and was imprisoned after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, seems to think the
premier's concern is genuine.
Questioned
It is less difficult to work out why Mr Yu's views are in the minority.
Through their control of the media, China's leaders are able to guard their image in
a way that would be impossible without censorship.
Authors who reflect a different point of view are not able to publish books in
mainland China. The offering about Mr Wen can only be released in Hong Kong,
which has more liberal publishing laws.
Many authors, like political activists, are also monitored by the police.
Mr Yu said he often sees security officers outside his home, particularly at sensitive
times, such as when China's annual parliamentary session is being held.
When the authorities found out he was planning to publish a book on Mr Wen - the
writer revealed it to friends on the social networking site Twitter - he was hauled in
for questioning.
Despite the problems, Mr Yu thinks publishing his book is worth the risk. "I think
modern citizens in a modern society should have the right to criticise and be
suspicious of their leaders.
"The purpose of this book is not only to criticise individuals and the communist
system, but also to develop the idea of freedom of speech."

28
China threatens dissident writer Yu Jie with prison
6 July 2010 Last updated at 15:29 GMT BBC
The prominent Chinese dissident Yu Jie has been warned by police not to publish a
book critical of Premier Wen Jiabao.
Yu Jie said he was detained and questioned at a police station for four hours on
Monday.
The officers had threatened him with a prison sentence if he went ahead with his
plans for publishing the book, Mr Yu said.
The writer added that he would go ahead and publish the book in Hong Kong.
"I'm also willing to bear all of the consequences," Mr Yu said.
He described how officers from the state security forces told him that criticism of Mr
Wen would put national security at risk.
"They said I could be given a heavy sentence like Liu Xiaobo," Mr Yu said.
Liu, who is also a dissident writer, is serving an 11-year sentence for inciting to
subvert state power.
Mr Yu helped found the Independent PEN Center in China. He is also a Christian
advocate and has publicly defended religious freedom.
His books are banned in mainland China.

29
New York Times blocked by China after
report on wealth of Wen Jiabao's family
Authorities censor publication after revelations that the premier's relatives have
accumulated billions during his leadership
Tania Branigan in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 October 2012 10.43 BST
Reports are highly embarassing for China's premier Wen Jiabao, who has urged
officials not to abuse their influence. Photograph: Christophe Karaba/EPA
China's foreign ministry has accused the New York Times of smearing the country by
reporting that the premier Wen Jiabao's extended family has controlled assets worth
at least $2.7bn (1.67bn).
A spokesman, Hong Lei, said the report "blackens China's name and has ulterior
motives". Authorities have also blocked the news organisation's main and Chinese-
language websites and banned searches for "New York Times" in English and
Chinese on microblogs.
"China manages the internet in accordance with laws and rules," Hong told reporters
at a daily briefing when asked why the sites were inaccessible.

30
The New York Times reported that several of Wen's close relatives had become
extremely wealthy since his ascent to leadership. But in many cases their holdings
were obscured by layers of partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends,
colleagues or business partners, it said, in a detailed and lengthy account based on
an extensive review of company and regulatory filings.
A single investment held on paper by Wen's 90-year-old mother Yang Zhiyun a
retired schoolteacher was worth $120m five years ago, the New York Times said.
It added it was unclear if Yang was aware of the holdings in her name.
The report is embarrassing not only for Wen himself who comes from a modest
background and is widely seen as the sympathetic, populist face of the government
but for the party. It is the latest in a string of unwelcome revelations about the
vast wealth amassed by those around senior leaders.
Authorities blocked the Bloomberg website earlier this year after it exposed the
multimillion-dollar assets held by the extended family of Xi Jinping, heir-apparent to
the presidency. The news agency has also reported that relatives of the disgraced
politician Bo Xilai accumulated at least $136m in assets.
Many people particularly among the elite had been aware of rumours about
Wen's relatives, but the full detail of the report and the scale of their assets is
striking. The timing is also sensitive, given that the once-a-decade leadership
transition is weeks away.
But the blocking of the websites and censorship on Chinese microblogs means that
many may remain unaware of the New York Times report.
Several users commented on the article on the Sina Weibo service, but the remarks
were quickly deleted. A BBC news report was blacked out in Beijing as it referred to
the article.
Wen has repeatedly stressed the need to curb corruption, urging leaders to ensure
their families and associates do not abuse government influence, and pushed for
officials to disclose the assets of their immediate families.

31
Such declarations are not made public and the Times said four-fifths of the assets
they found were held by relatives such as his mother, younger brother and various
in-laws none of whom would be covered by the party rules.
A former government colleague of Wen's, who spoke anonymously, told the Times:
"In the senior leadership, there's no family that doesn't have these problems His
enemies are intentionally trying to smear him by letting this leak out."
A US diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks, dating from 2007, quoted an executive
in Shanghai as saying: "Wen is disgusted with his family's activities, but is either
unable or unwilling to curtail them."
In March, the prime minister made a point of telling reporters at his annual press
conference that he had "never pursued personal gain", adding that while he had
faced criticism, "history will have the final say".
Wen's mother's shares, and those of other relatives, were held via an investment
vehicle, Taihong, run by Duan Weihong, a wealthy businesswoman close to Wen's
wife. Weihong told the Times that the investments were actually her own but she
had sought a low profile so asked relatives to find other people to hold the shares on
her behalf; they had by "accident" and without her knowledge chosen the prime
minister's relatives.
Wen's wife, Zhang Beili, who is rarely seen with her husband, works in the diamond
trade. Their son Winston Wen runs New Horizon Capital, now one of China's biggest
private equity funds.
His wife Yang Xiaomeng told the Times: "Everything that has been written about him
has been wrong.
"He's really not doing that much business any more."
The Times said members of Wen's family had declined to comment or did not
respond.
Separately, the Brookings Institution said the brother of the man expected to replace
Wen Jiabao Li Keqiang, already vice-premier should be moved from his post as a

32
senior official at China's state-owned tobacco monopoly. Li oversees public health as
part of his duties.
His younger brother Li Keming is deputy director of the tobacco body and Cheng Li,
author of the Brookings report, suggested his role might have set back attempts to
curb tobacco use in China.
How the humble relative rises in Wen's China
October 27, 2012 http://www.smh.com.au/
As opportunities knock, it's the family ties that deliver big
pay days, writes David Barboza in Beijing.
Nicknamed Grandpa Wen because of his concern for the underprivileged ... China's
Premier, Wen Jiabao. Photo: AFP
The mother of China's Premier was a schoolteacher in northern China. His father
was ordered to tend pigs in one of Mao's political campaigns. And during his
childhood, ''my family was extremely poor'', Wen Jiabao said in a speech last year.

33
But now 90, the Premier's mother, Yang Zhiyun, has not only left poverty behind -
she has became outright rich, at least on paper, according to corporate and
regulatory records. Just one investment in her name, in a large Chinese financial
services company, had a value of $US120 million five years ago, the records show.
The details of how Yang, a widow, accumulated such wealth are not known, or even
if she is aware of the holdings in her name. But it happened after her son was
elevated to China's ruling elite, first in 1998 as vice-premier then five years later as
premier.
Many of Wen's relatives, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-
in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an investigation
by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory records
indicates that the Premier's relatives, some who have a knack for aggressive deal-
making, including his wife, have controlled assets worth at least $US2.7 billion ($2.8
billion).
In many cases, the names of the relatives have been hidden behind layers of
partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends, colleagues and business
partners. Untangling their financial holdings provides an unusually detailed look at
how politically connected people have profited from being at the intersection of
government and business as state influence and private wealth converge in China.
Unlike most new businesses in China, the family's ventures sometimes received
financial backing from state-owned companies, including China Mobile, one of the
country's biggest phone operators, the documents show. The New York Times found
that Wen's relatives accumulated shares in banks, jewellers, tourist resorts,
telecommunications companies and infrastructure projects, sometimes by using
offshore entities.
The holdings include a villa development in Beijing, a tyre factory in northern China,
a company that helped build some of Beijing's Olympic stadiums, including the well-
known ''Bird's Nest'', and Ping An Insurance, one of the world's biggest financial
services companies.
As Premier in an economy that remains heavily state-driven, Wen, best known for
his simple ways and common touch, more importantly has broad authority over the

34
industries where his relatives have made their fortunes. Chinese companies cannot
list on a stock exchange without approval from agencies overseen by Wen, for
example. He also has the power to influence investments in strategic sectors such as
energy and telecommunications.
Because the Chinese government rarely makes its deliberations public, it is not
known what role - if any - Wen, 70, has played in most decisions. But in some cases
his relatives have sought to profit from opportunities made possible by those
decisions.
His younger brother, for example, has a company that was awarded more than
$US30 million in government contracts and subsidies to handle wastewater
treatment and medical waste disposal for some of China's biggest cities. The
contracts were announced after Wen ordered tougher regulations on medical waste
disposal in 2003 after the SARS outbreak.
In 2004, after the State Council, a government body Wen presides over, exempted
Ping An Insurance and other companies from rules that limited their scope, Ping An
went on to raise $US1.8 billion in a float. Partnerships controlled by Wen's relatives
made a fortune by investing in the company before the float.
In 2007, the last year the share holdings were disclosed in public documents, those
partnerships held as much as $US2.2 billion worth of Ping An stock, according to
accounting by The New York Times that was verified by outside auditors. Ping An's
market value is now nearly $US60 billion. Ping An said the company did ''not know
the background of the entities behind our shareholders''.
While Communist Party regulations call for top officials to disclose their wealth and
that of their immediate family members, no law or regulation bans relatives of even
the most senior officials from becoming deal-makers or major investors - a loophole
that, in effect, allows them to trade on their family name. Some Chinese argue that
allowing the families of Communist leaders to profit from the country's long
economic boom has been important to ensuring elite support for market-oriented
reforms.
Even so, the business dealings of Wen's relatives have sometimes been hidden in
ways that suggest the relatives are eager to avoid public scrutiny, the records filed

35
with Chinese regulatory authorities show. Their ownership stakes are often veiled by
an intricate web of holdings as many as five steps removed from the operating
companies, according to the review.
In the case of Wen's mother, The New York Times calculated her stake in Ping An -
valued at $US120 million in 2007 - by examining public records and government-
issued identity cards and by following the ownership trail to three Chinese
investment entities.
The apparent efforts to conceal the wealth reflect the highly charged politics
surrounding the country's ruling elite, many of whom are also enormously wealthy
but reluctant to draw attention to their riches.
''In the senior leadership there's no family that doesn't have these problems,'' said a
former government colleague of Wen who has known him for more than 20 years
and who spoke on the condition of anonymity. ''His enemies are intentionally trying
to smear him by letting this leak out.''
The New York Times presented its findings to the Chinese government for comment.
The Foreign Ministry declined to respond. Members of Wen's family also declined to
comment or did not respond.
A wealthy businesswoman, Duan Weihong, whose company, Taihong, was the
investment vehicle for the Ping An shares held by the Premier's mother and other
relatives, said the investments were actually her own. Duan, who comes from the
Premier's home town and is a close friend of his wife, said ownership of the shares
was listed in the names of Wen's relatives in an effort to conceal the size of her own
holdings.
''When I invested in Ping An I didn't want to be written about,'' Duan said, ''so I had
my relatives find some other people to hold these shares for me.''
The review of the corporate and regulatory records, which covers 1992 to 2012,
found no holdings in Wen's name. And it was not possible to determine from the
documents whether he recused himself from any decisions that might have affected
his relatives' holdings, or whether they received preferential treatment.

36
For much of his tenure, Wen has been at the centre of rumours and conjecture
about efforts by his relatives to profit from his position.
His wife, Zhang Beili, is a leading authority on jewellery and gemstones and is an
accomplished businesswoman in her own right. By managing state diamond
companies that were later privatised, she helped her relatives parlay their minority
stakes into a billion-dollar portfolio of insurance, technology and real estate
ventures.
The couple's only son sold a technology company he started to the family of Hong
Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing, for $US10 million, and used another investment
vehicle to establish New Horizon Capital, now one of China's biggest private equity
firms, with partners such as the government of Singapore, according to records and
interviews with bankers.
The Premier's younger brother, Wen Jiahong, controls $US200 million in assets,
including wastewater treatment plants and recycling businesses, the records show.
As premier, Wen has staked out a position as a populist and a reformer, someone
the state-run media has nicknamed ''the People's Premier'' and ''Grandpa Wen''
because of his frequent outings to meet ordinary people, especially in moments of
crisis.
While it is unclear how much the Premier knows about his family's wealth, US State
Department documents released by WikiLeaks in 2010 included a cable that
suggested Wen was aware of his relatives' business dealings and was unhappy
about them.
''Wen is disgusted with his family's activities but is either unable or unwilling to
curtail them,'' a Chinese-born executive working at a US company in Shanghai told
US diplomats, according to a 2007 cable.
The State Department documents released by WikiLeaks included a suggestion that
Wen had once considered divorcing Zhang because she had exploited their
relationship in her diamond trades.
Wen's only son, Wun Yunsong, also known as Winston, about 40, and his wife have
stakes in the technology industry and an electric company, as well as an indirect

37
stake in Union Mobile Pay, the government-backed online payment platform,
according to corporate records and people familiar with the family's investments.
''He's not shy about using his influence to get things done,'' said one venture
capitalist who regularly meets the younger Wen, who also declined to be
interviewed. But his wife, Yang Xiaomeng, said her husband had been unfairly
criticised for his business dealings.
In 2007 Wen called for measures to fight corruption, particularly among senior
officials. ''Leaders at all levels of government should take the lead in the anti-graft
drive,'' he told high-level party members in Beijing. ''They should strictly ensure that
their family members, friends and close subordinates do not abuse government
influence.''
The speech was consistent with his earlier drive to toughen disclosure rules for
public servants and to require senior officials to reveal their family assets.
Whether Wen has made such disclosures for his own family is unclear, since the
Communist Party does not release such information. Even so, many of the holdings
found by The New York Times would not need to be disclosed under the rules since
they are not held in the name of the Premier's immediate family.
About 80 per cent of the $US2.7 billion in assets identified in The New York Times
investigation and verified by the outside auditors were held by, among others, the
Premier's mother, his younger brother, two brothers-in-law, a sister-in-law, a
daughter-in-law and the parents of his son's wife, none of whom is subject to party
disclosure rules.
The Premier's supporters say he has not personally benefited from his extended
family's business dealings and may not even be knowledgeable about the extent of
them.
Last March he hinted he was at least aware of the persistent rumours about his
relatives. During a nationally televised news conference in Beijing, he insisted he had
''never pursued personal gain'' in public office. ''I have the courage to face the
people and to face history,'' he said in an emotional session. ''There are people who

38
will appreciate what I have done but there are also people who will criticise me.
Ultimately, history will have the final say.''
The New York Times

Wen Jiabao
()
26.10.2012 VOA
New York Times Wen Jiabao

New York Times

New York Times
Wen .
New York Times

twitter Weibo microblog

New York Times

Hong Lei


39
New York Times Eileen Murphy
New York Times
June
New York Times

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