News brief: Mayor with Wharton ties ousted in Shanghai

What do you get when you combine the Wharton School, rampant corruption and the Chinese Communist Party? A purging, of course. Last Sunday, Chinese security forces removed Chen Liangyu, a graduate of the first Wharton senior executive training program run in Shanghai in 1990, from his post as Shanghai's Communist Party boss and placed him under house arrest. Chen is likely to face corruption charges. It was the first time that a Chinese official has been removed from that country's Politburo in 11 years. His removal may not have been completely motivated by a desire to crack down on corruption, though, according to Penn Political Science professor and China expert Avery Goldstein. Goldstein said that while Chen's alleged corruption likely played into the decision, Chinese President Hu Jintao could also have authorized the move as a ploy to remove a political rival. Chen has close ties with Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, under whom he rose to power in Shanghai. "Shanghai was the power base of the former president," Goldstein said. "Shanghai is not the power base of the current president. Some are suggesting that this is a way of eliminating some of the support of the Shanghai group." As for Chen's future, Goldstein said that he almost certainly will be put on trial and most likely will be convicted. He said it is possible that Chen, who also spoke at a Wharton event in China in 1997, could face the death penalty. More likely, though, is a stiff prison term. Goldstein reassured Wharton students, however, saying, "I don't think the Wharton experience makes somebody either more or less likely to fall prey to these things. "The reason why officials in China often find themselves wallowing in practices that are ultimately corrupt is the nature of the political culture there."

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