Qin Guangrong

Qin Guangrong (Chinese: 秦光荣; pinyin: Qín Guāngróng; born 1 December 1954) is a Chinese politician, currently serving as the deputy chair of the committee on internal legal affairs of the National People's Congress. He previous served as the Communist Party Secretary of Yunnan province, the province's top political office, from 2011 to October 2014. Prior to that he was the Governor of Yunnan. Qin is related to that of his son Qin Ling, former chairman of Huarong Investment Stock Corp. His son Qin Ling was under investigation as part of the corruption scandal at the Huarong Asset Management Co. Ltd., one of the country’s four state-run bad-asset disposal companies. He is the first leader of provincial level to spontaneously hand himself in to the anti-corruption agency of China.

Qin was born in Yongzhou, Hunan Province in 1950. He attended Hengyang Normal University, majoring in Chinese language. After graduating, he was dispatched to the Lingling campus of Hunan Normal University. He then entered the Communist Youth League system as a provincial functionary, eventually working his way up to leading positions. In June 1993, he became party chief of Changsha at the age of 38; a year later he joined the provincial party standing committee.

In January 1999, he was transferred to the southwestern province of Yunnan to become the provincial Political and Legal Affairs secretary, then cycled through the offices of organization department head, executive vice governor, and Deputy Party Secretary. He was first appointed the Governor of Yunnan in January 2007. He was re-elected as Governor by the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress on January 24, 2008.

Qin was named the Party Secretary for Yunnan in November 2011.

In mid September 2013, Qin led a delegation of more than 200 people to visit Taiwan. While in Taiwan, Qin met with the former Chairman of Kuomintang, Wu Po-hsiung. During the meeting, Qin encouraged Taiwanese businessmen to invest in Yunnan and make use of the province as the gateway to Southeast Asia and South Asia, creating business opportunities. He added that Yunnan welcomes Taiwanese farmers, township wardens, teachers, students, media and religious and business representatives.

Aftermath of Yunnan corruption cases

In 2014, a large number of corruption investigations were opened in Yunnan province, involving former provincial party chief Bai Enpei, former provincial governor Shen Peiping, and former Kunming executive vice mayor Li Xi. Zhang Tianxin, the former party chief of the provincial capital, Kunming, was also demoted as a result of a party investigation. As part of the overall efforts to get to the bottom of corruption cases in the province, Qin Guangrong was asked to step down as party chief in October 2014. Before he left his post he was said to have told his subordinates, "I am going to go somewhere else to work now. Thank you for everything." Subsequently Qin was named Vice Chair of the internal legal affairs committee of the National People's Congress.

Qin was an alternate member of the 15th and 16th Central Committees of the Communist Party of China, and a full member of the 17th, and 18th Central Committees.

Investigation

On May 9, 2019, Qin turned himself in to the government. Qin Guangrong was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the party's internal disciplinary body, and the National Supervisory Commission, the highest anti-corruption agency of China. On September 26, 2019, he had been expelled from the Communist Party of China.