Zhou Yongkang

Zhou Yongkang (Chinese: 周永康; born December 3, 1942) is a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (2007–2012) elected Zhou to be one of the nine members of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee; the highest decision-making body of the CCP, and the center of political power in the People's Republic of China. Zhou served as the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission during his tenure; he oversaw China's security apparatus and law enforcement institutions, including courts, prosecution agencies, police forces, paramilitary forces, and intelligence organs until his retirement in 2012. In December 2014, Zhou was arrested on corruption-related charges and expelled from the Chinese Communist Party.

Zhou's career in the CCP was propelled by his involvement in the oil and gas industry, beginning as a technician at the Daqing Oil Field during the Cultural Revolution. He led the China National Petroleum Corporation from 1996 to 1998 before serving as Minister of Land and Natural Resources until 1999. Subsequently, Zhou became the Party Secretary of Sichuan, with Sichuan being China's second most populous province at the time. Zhou was a member of the Executive Meeting of the 10th State Council of China (2003–2008) as a State Councillor. During his tenure on the State Council, Zhou served as the Minister of Public Security, the Political Commissar of the People's Armed Police, a Secretary on the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and the Deputy Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. In October 2007, the 17th Central Committee elected Zhou to the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), where he served as the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. He retired at the 18th Party Congress in 2012.

In late 2013, Zhou was placed under investigation for alleged abuse of power and corruption, a decision publicly announced by state media in July 2014. He became the first Politburo Standing Committee member, and the highest-ranking official since the founding of the People's Republic of China, to be tried and convicted of corruption-related charges. Following his investigation, Zhou was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On June 11, 2015, Zhou was convicted of bribery, abuse of power, and the intentional disclosure of state secrets by the Intermediate Court in Tianjin. Zhou and his family members were said to have taken 129 million yuan (over $20 million) in bribes. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Zhou was born as Zhou Yuangen (Chinese: 周元根) in December 1942. He is a native of Xiqiantou Village (西前头村), Wuxi County, in Jiangsu province. Xiqiantou is located 18 kilometers (11 mi) outside Wuxi city proper. The majority of Xiqiantou residents were surnamed "Zhou". Zhou took on the surname of his mother because his father, whose surname was Lu, was a "live-in son-in-law" of his maternal grandparents. Upon joining the Zhou household when he married, his father took on his wife's surname and became known as Zhou Yisheng (周义生).

Zhou was the eldest of three sons. Zhou's family was poor; his family made a living farming and fishing for the Asian swamp eel. Zhou was sent to school with the financial assistance of his family friends. In 1954, Zhou was enrolled at one of the two top middle schools in the eastern Wuxi area. It was during this period that Zhou changed his name to "Yongkang" on the advice of his teacher, because there was another person in his class with an identical name.

Zhou excelled at school and was eventually accepted to enroll at the prestigious Suzhou High School, one of the most prominent secondary schools in the Jiangnan region. Zhou had good grades and was involved in extra-curricular activities, including the school's political ideology group as well as events promoting literacy. In 1961, after obtaining stellar results on his Gaokao exams, he was admitted to the Beijing Institute of Petroleum (now China University of Petroleum) and became the pride of his village. He majored in geophysical survey and exploration.

In November 1964, he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution ensnared Beijing's higher education institutions. Zhou was told by the authorities to "wait for an assignment" while the political struggles wreaked havoc on China's universities. He waited for a year. He joined geological survey work in north-east China in 1967, assigned to become an intern technician at factory No. 673 at the Daqing oil field. In 1970, Zhou was promoted to lead the geological survey division of a local department charged with carrying out an ambitious petroleum drilling initiative set out by the Party's top leadership.

Zhou worked in the oil industry from 1967 to 1998.