Liu Zhijun

Who is Liu Zhijun?

Liu Zhijun is a Chinese former politician and a senior bureaucrat within the Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China. Liu was a farmer's son who left school in his teens to take a job as a low-level bureaucrat in the Railway Ministry. He rose rapidly within the Ministry, eventually heading several regional railway departments and serving as vice-minister before being promoted to the head of the Railway Ministry in 2003.

As Railway Minister, Liu oversaw numerous expansions of China's railway system, most notably the rapid development of China's high-speed railway. He was a figure of national praise until February 2011, when he was arrested and expelled from the Party over allegations of corruption. After the Wenzhou train collision in July 2011, in which forty people died and one hundred and ninety-two people were injured, a government report singled out his leadership as one of the main contributors to the crash and he was publicly criticized.

In April 2013, Zhijun was arrested on corruption charges for allegedly taking bribes and abusing his power as Minister of Railways. He was convicted and received a death sentence with reprieve in July 2013.