Wuhan’s Covid mayor Zhou Xianwang jailed for 14 years for corruption

Zhou used various positions he held between 2003 and 2025 – including party secretary of Huangshi, mayor of Wuhan and vice-governor of Hubei province – to “provide assistance to companies and individuals in contracting projects, business operations and administrative approvals”, Shangqiu Intermediate People’s Court in Henan said.

In return, he accepted cash and property worth more than 60.5 million yuan (US$9 million), the court said.

The court, which tried the case on July 9, described the sum as an “exceptionally large amount” and found him guilty of bribery.

It added that Zhou, who was also fined 5 million yuan, had confessed his crimes and returned his illicit gains, which led to a lighter punishment.

Zhou was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country’s top anti-corruption watchdog, in July last year.

Zhou, 64, had climbed steadily through the party ranks in his native province of Hubei and was named deputy party secretary of Wuhan, the provincial capital, in May 2018. In September he was also appointed as the city’s mayor.

When the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan in late December 2019, the city authorities delayed the announcement – a decision that was later widely criticised.

The city went into lockdown three days after a meeting of the State Council, China’s cabinet, on January 20, 2020 that told local authorities to take responsibility for their own areas.

In late January 2020, Zhou told state broadcaster CCTV that “as a local government official, I can only disclose information after receiving it and being authorised”.

He also defended his decision to allow more than 40,000 people to attend a Chinese New Year gathering earlier that month, which helped spread the virus.

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Zhou said that he and Ma Guoqiang, the former Wuhan party secretary, were “willing to resign to appease the public” as soon as the outbreak could be brought under control.

Ma was removed from his post in February 2020 along with Jiang Chaoliang, the Hubei provincial party secretary.

But Zhou remained in his job until 2021, when he resigned and went on to serve on the provincial and national committees of the country’s top political advisory body.

Jiang has also been convicted of bribery, receiving a suspended death sentence in August. Earlier this year, he featured in a CCTV documentary about corruption, where he admitted receiving funds from a businessman in return for favours for over a decade.