Shanghai Corruption, Beijing Battles And The Fight For China Leadership

Oct. 9, 2006 issue - The ouster of Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu last week could have come straight out of a Hollywood mafia flick. The frictions between the bumptious Chen and President Hu Jintao began more than two years ago—sparked by corruption concerns in Shanghai and serious philosophical differences between the two men over economic policy. But Hu couldn't remove Chen hastily. The party boss is close to Hu's predecessor, former Communist Party head Jiang Zemin, the godfather of the so-called Shanghai faction to which Chen belongs.