Huang Qifan, the former mayor of Chongqing, was placed under investigation for corruption

[william]

This is pretty momentous because Huang is a legendary technocrat who played a critical role in developing Shanghai's Pudong district. He was best known as one of the main architects of Bo Xilai's Chongqing Model, which he once dubbed "Marx plus Reagan."

Remarkably, Huang survived Bo's downfall in 2012 and remained mayor until 2016, then took an economic policy advisory role in Beijing. At the time, this was views as the result of his previous economic achievements and technocratic personality, which made him not so politically threatening (He had a COO personality, not a founder.)

That's why the charges today are strange. If you spared the COO then, why are you going after him now? From his books and writings, you can tell that Huang doesn't have that instinct for political maneuvering. The guy is an engineer/state planner through and through. As he once described his motto: "follow your heart’s desire without overstepping the line."Whatever the reason, Huang was one of the highest-profile figures of the Chongqing era, providing a rival economic vision to Xi Jinping. With his downfall, that chapter of Chinese politics has come to a close.
10:10 AM · Oct 13, 2026

• Chang Che's post reports the CCDI investigation of Huang Qifan, former Chongqing mayor and Bo Xilai ally, for corruption, noting possible ties to P2P lending amid other rumors and framing it as the close of the Chongqing Model era.
• Huang, a veteran technocrat who helped develop Shanghai's Pudong and shaped Chongqing's economy with a "Marx plus Reagan" approach, survived Bo's 2012 purge by disavowing him and focusing on non-threatening economic planning.
• His probe, coming eight years after retirement and alongside recent falls of Chongqing-linked financial figures, underscores ongoing anti-corruption efforts targeting historical networks and state-owned enterprise reforms from that period.

Huang Qifan, the former mayor of Chongqing, was placed under investigation for corruption - Bing

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