New | Diverse work of disgraced top Chinese official Ling Jihua’s wife ‘all linked to his power base’

Gu Liping – the wife of Ling Jihua, disgraced chief aide to China’s former president Hu Jintao – appears to be a jack of all trades, dabbling in jobs ranging from NGO work, entrepreneurial mentorship, and even journalism. But one factor that ties her diverse work together is their link to her husband’s power base, the China Youth League.

Ling was dismissed as vice-chairman of China’s political advisory body after he came under corruption investigation late last year, and Gu has been taken in by the state’s top graft-buster, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, while it investigates Ling.

Gu, 56, was founder and chief secretary general of the Youth Business China (YBC), an NGO which focuses on bolstering entrepreneurship in the country, from 2003 to 2013, the China Business News reported.

Yang Huadong, Gu’s major partner at the NGO and head of several energy reservation firms, said Gu invited him to join the NGO in 2002 after she returned from a trip to Britain, where she represented the League to study entrepreneurship incubation programmes there.

YBC’s list of mentors include Gu and Yang as well as Zeng Xianbo, a Shandong-based tycoon believed to have been caught up in the corruption investigation against Ling. Zeng is president of Qingdao Furi Group, a leading car distributor that also provides real estate development, financial investment and luxury operation services.

Zeng’s company told China Business News that he was “working as normal and not suitable for interviews right now”.