Gu Junshan

Gu Junshan (; born October 1956) is a former lieutenant general in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China who was sentenced to prison for corruption. He served as the deputy director of the PLA General Logistics Department (GLD) from December 2009 to February 2012. During his tenure he oversaw the consolidation and sale of military real estate assets. Prior to that, he served as the chief of the barracks and housing division of the GLD, in charge of upgrades to the facilities and residences of army personnel.

Born into a family of farmers, Gu joined the military when he was 17 years old. He worked in Northeast China, but was transferred back to his home province during the downsizing of the PLA in the 1980s. He then worked in logistics coordination for the Jinan Military Region, and was rapidly promoted thereafter. Gu attained the rank of major general (shao jiang) in July 2003 and lieutenant-general (zhong jiang) in July 2011. Gu was removed from office in 2012, as the authorities opened a far-reaching corruption investigation which resulted in the seizure of many Gu family assets. In 2015, Gu was tried and convicted on charges of bribery, embezzlement, illegally moving public funds, and abuse of power by a military court, and sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

Biography Early life Gu was born and raised in the village of Dongbaicang , in the outskirts of the city of Puyang, Henan. He was the son of Gu Yansheng , a farmer born in 1924, and a woman from a neighbouring village. Gu Junshan was the eldest of six children. Gu studied at Dongbaicang Primary School , then he attended Nanlixiang Middle School . He was considered a "troublemaker" during his teenage years, and an unremarkable student.

In 1971, Gu joined the People's Liberation Army and was assigned to Shenyang Military Region, in China's northeast. He operated instruments for a local air force division as a cadet in Liuhe County, Jilin. Gu was considered a mediocre soldier in terms of technical ability and competence, but was adept at managing relationships with his officers. However, he received "poor" ratings several times in his performance evaluations, and was publicly reprimanded several times by his superior Zhang Longhai .

Corruption case In December 2009, Gu became the deputy director of the People's Liberation Army General Logistics Department. This made Gu only one step away from becoming one of the directors of the PLA's "big national departments", and potentially achieving a full General (shangjiang) rank. Gu's meteoric rise was linked to Central Military Commission Vice Chairman and Politburo member Xu Caihou. Gu worked under Xu when Xu was the chief political commissar of the Jinan Military Region in the late 1990s. During Xu's daughter's wedding reception, Gu allegedly gave a cash card worth some 20 million yuan (~$3.2 million) to Xu's daughter. It is believed that the success of the factory was due to the backing of Gu Junshan in the procurement of military contracts. In addition, Caixin reported that Gu San, who was the local village chief for nearly ten years, also built a real estate 'empire' in the area near the Gus old family home. Hu Jintao, Chairman of the Central Military Commission himself asked for Gu to be suspended, but was met with resistance by the top military brass. In 2012, bypassing military authorities, Hu asked the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s own internal control agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, to intervene in the case.

In March 2014, state media publicly announced Gu's corruption investigation. Gu was charged with corruption, bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power by the PLA Military Procuratorate. His case was then moved to court martial. Gu was the highest-ranked military official to be charged with corruption since the Wang Shouye scandal in 2006. Chinese-language media also reported that during the investigation, Gu gave evidence against Xu Caihou, alleging that Xu offered promotions in exchange for money.

Family Gu married Zhang Shuyan , whose name has also been written as Zhang Suyan , the daughter of army political commissar Zhang Longhai . Zhang Shuyan was an official in the Puyang police department, in charge of petitions. Gu was the eldest son of his parents; he has three sisters and two brothers. His siblings all own homes in the Puyang area of Henan province. The family also built a Forbidden City-style 'imperial palace' compound in Puyang, which fell into disrepair shortly after the Gu Junshan corruption case was opened. Gu's father is buried in a prominent local cemetery with the conspicuous "revolutionary hero" designation written on his tombstone.