BEIJING — The charismatic Communist Party chief who had led a Maoist revival in the central China city of Chongqing, complete with patriotic song contests, was removed from his post Thursday in what is being applauded as a victory for the political reform faction.
Bo Xilai’s ouster comes in the midst of a scandal that has riveted the Chinese, who are unaccustomed to seeing political intrigues played out in public. From retirees gossiping over their mah-jongg games to students chatting on the Internet, Bo has been one of the most discussed topics in China since his close ally and deputy mayor, Wang Lijun, sought asylum last month at a nearby U.S. consulate.
A short dispatch by the official New China News Agency on Thursday said Bo had been replaced after “careful consideration based on current circumstances and the overall situation.” The report did not say what would happen with Bo’s position on the Politburo.
Bo, 62, is one of China’s most famous “princelings,” the son of Bo Yibo, one of the Communist Party’s founders. Positively flamboyant next to dull party technocrats such as President Hu Jintao, he had been a contender to step up in the next generation.
His son, Bo Guoguo, who has studied at Oxford and Harvard, was also frequently in the public eye, sometimes spotted driving a red Ferrari. Political analysts sometimes went so far as to call the family “Kennedy esque.”
The most immediate beneficiaries of Bo’s downfall are reformers such as Wang Yang, the party secretary of manufacturing powerhouse Guangdong province who has pushed for local elections. Bo and the Guangdong chief were rivals to advance to the nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo at the 18th party congress to be held in October.
