1. A court in eastern China sentenced former Shanghai senior official Zhu Zhisong to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes totaling 139 million yuan ($20.4 million), marking the latest heavy sentence in Beijing’s ongoing anticorruption campaign [para. 1]. The Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangxi province delivered the verdict on June 23, according to Xinhua News Agency. Zhu, a former alternate member of the 20th Central Committee, had served as a member of the Shanghai party standing committee and party chief of Pudong New Area, a key financial and development zone [para. 2].
2. The court also stripped Zhu of political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets. Authorities are to turn over recovered bribe proceeds and related gains to the state treasury, while continuing to pursue any shortfall [para. 3]. The court found that from 2003 to 2024, Zhu used a succession of senior posts—including deputy head and head of the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.; deputy director of Shanghai’s publicity department; deputy party chief and mayor of Minhang district; party chief of Minhang; deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government; roles in the Lingang section of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone; and ultimately Shanghai party standing committee member and Pudong party chief—to help companies and individuals with business operations, construction contracts, financing, and loans [para. 4]. He accepted money and property both directly and through others [para. 5].
3. Caixin noted that the bribery period identified by the court was longer than the one previously described by prosecutors. On Nov. 11, 2025, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate stated that Zhu had been indicted by prosecutors in Nanchang, accusing him of using positions in Shanghai’s propaganda department, Minhang district, the municipal government, the Lingang free-trade-zone area, and Pudong to seek benefits for others and illegally accept an especially large amount of assets. However, the court found that Zhu’s bribery began earlier, when he was deputy head of the Eighth Academy [para. 6]. The court heard the case on Jan. 22, and Zhu pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in court [para. 7].
4. The court determined that Zhu’s conduct constituted bribery, involved an especially large amount, and caused particularly severe losses to the interests of the state and the people, warranting the death penalty. However, because part of the offense was attempted, and because Zhu truthfully confessed after detention, voluntarily disclosed most unknown offenses, pleaded guilty, expressed remorse, and actively returned illicit gains, the death sentence did not need to be carried out immediately [para. 8]. Zhu was publicly placed under investigation on Nov. 27, 2024, and on June 10, 2025, he was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office before being transferred to judicial authorities [para. 9].
5. The official disciplinary notice stated that Zhu had lost his ideals and convictions, abandoned his original mission, been disloyal and dishonest to the party, and resisted organizational review. It also said he violated the party’s eight-point frugality rules by long accepting banquets that could affect impartial performance of his duties and by having others pay expenses he should have covered himself [para. 10]. Additionally, he was accused of failing to truthfully report personal matters, improperly helping others in hiring, using his power to benefit relatives, improperly accepting gifts, cash, and spending cards, improperly deciding to lower the transfer price of state-owned land-use rights, and improperly interfering in construction contracting. He used his positions to help others in construction projects and business operations and illegally accepted huge amounts of assets [para. 11].
6. Zhu, 57, was born in February 1969 in Ganyu, Jiangsu province. After graduating from Harbin Institute of Technology in July 1989 with a degree in machinery manufacturing, he joined the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (also known as the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight). Over 25 years, he rose from technician to head of the academy [para. 12]. He first worked on military products, holding various technical and management posts at the academy’s No. 800 research institute. He was promoted out of sequence to researcher in 1999, became assistant to the academy president in June 2000, deputy president in February 2002, and president and deputy party secretary in November 2008 [para. 13].
7. Dai Shoulun, who worked alongside Zhu during Zhu’s tenure as academy president, was publicly placed under investigation on Aug. 22, 2024. Dai had spent years in the aerospace system and became party secretary and deputy president of the Shanghai academy in September 2011. In July 2014, Dai succeeded Zhu as president and deputy party secretary of the academy [para. 14]. In May 2014, Zhu became deputy director of Shanghai’s municipal propaganda department. Late the following year, he was sent to Minhang district, where he later became district mayor and, in May 2017, party chief [para. 15].
8. In August 2019, Zhu became deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government while also serving as executive deputy director of the Lingang section of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone management committee and director of the Yangshan Free Trade Port Area management committee. He was elected to the Shanghai party standing committee in January 2021, and in August that year he also became party chief of Pudong New Area and director of the Lingang management committee, posts he held until his investigation [para. 16]. He was the first Pudong party chief to come under investigation since the district was established in 1992, and Shanghai’s second “tiger” (a term for high-ranking officials targeted in corruption probes) since the 20th Party Congress, following Dong Yunhu. After Zhu’s fall, the Pudong New Area government website updated its “district party leadership” section on Jan. 7, 2025, showing that Li Zheng, a Shanghai party standing committee member and then secretary-general of the municipal party committee, had also become Pudong party chief. In April 2025, Hua Yuan, a Shanghai party standing committee member and then vice mayor, became secretary-general of the municipal party committee [para. 16].
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