Family
Bo's first wife was Li Danyu, the daughter of former Beijing Party First Secretary Li Xuefeng. They wed in September 1976 and had a son, Li Wangzhi, the following year. Their son graduated from Columbia University in 2001. Li Danyu insisted that her son change his surname to Li following her divorce from Bo Xilai in 1984. Li Wangzhi is reportedly low-key and modest, and has a master's degree in media studies. He worked at Citibank and a law firm in Beijing.
Bo married his second wife, Gu Kailai, in 1986. Gu was a prominent lawyer and founder of the Kailai lawfirm in Beijing. Gu’s father, Gu Jingsheng, was a Communist revolutionary. Her mother, Fan Chengxiu, is a descendant of the renowned Song Dynasty Prime Minister and Poet Fan Zhongyan. Gu has been charged with the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Bo Xilai drew criticism from others in the party for his high-profile courting of media attention and using his family pedigree to further the interests of his wife and her law firm. Bo denied that his wife had profited from his position, saying that his wife had retired her legal practice while the couple lived in Dalian in the 1990s. Bo said that Gu "now basically just stays at home, doing some housework for me." Jiang Weiping claimed that Gu served as Bo's "gatekeeper" when Bo was the mayor of Dalian, regularly accepting gifts and bribes from property developers seeking access to him, and from Party officials seeking government appointments. There was speculation that Bo Xilai may have attempted to interfere with a corruption investigation into his wife. Following his dismissal, his wife was reported to have been implicated in the death of British businessman and family friend Heywood.
Bo and Gu have one son, Guagua. He attended Harrow School, and was later admitted to Balliol College, Oxford, where in 2006 he started studying for a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Guagua then went on to study at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Bo Guagua's high-profile and privileged lifestyle has provided tabloid fodder for Chinese-language media. Asked how he could afford his son's tuition fees on his estimated annual salary of $22,000, Bo replied that his son received "full scholarships" from the respective institutions. Maclean's reported that Bo's family associate Heywood pulled strings to have Guagua accepted into Harrow, shortly after becoming involved with Bo.
Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai's eldest brother, is a vice-chairman and executive director of Hong Kong-listed China Everbright International, but does so under a pseudonym. Although the name used, according to company filings, is 'Li Xueming', the company declined to confirm if they are one and the same.
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