Not only has the Bo Xilai trial still not happened, but the public hasn't seen him in 11 months. When we do finally glimpse him (though at this point, it might be if, not when), indications are he'll look remarkably different from before. That's because Bo Xilai has a "chest-length beard." ...

There's no question Bo Xilai has had an eventful year, directly responsible for outrage, consternation, confusion, exhilaration, and joy (he was manna from heaven for China's foreign correspondents). As Time's Austin Ramzy writes, "Bo was favored to win a seat on China's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee this fall after having boosted his popularity by reviving Mao-era culture, expanding social safe ...

The Sunday Times, in its now-famous (or infamous) piece on Neil Heywood (still paywalled, but it's here if you want to purchase), alluded to a certain Channel 4 documentary on the man. Quote: "After a year-long investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches, based on numerous conversations with friends, business colleagues, diplomatic sources and a Chinese contact who knew both Heywood and the Bo family intimatel ...

In a 3,600-word piece, Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy of Britain's The Sunday Times lay bare the myth of Neil Heywood. They argue that far from being an intrepid power broker living astutely within the inner circles of China's elite, the murdered Briton was a "failed businessman," a "chancer," an "irritant," and a liar who lucked into his connection with Bo Xilai, and was killed after a miscalculation on ...

Neil Heywood was likely feeding information to British intelligence officers while in the inner circle of Bo Xilai, according to Jeremy Page of the Wall Street Journal. From the very beginning of this saga, we've known that Heywood -- poisoned by Gu Kailai, as the consensus goes -- has been connected to MI6, Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, but never have we had proof. Certainly nothing like this: The ...

If you thought Bo Xilai was expelled from the Communist Party of China in September, you're only half right. (Okay, 99 percent right.) Today it was made official after a meeting of 500 top party officials in Beijing in what must have been the easiest decision they'll make this month. Nothing now stands in the way between Bo Xilai and a criminal trial. In the tersest of terse statements from Xinhua a few min ...

[caption id="attachment_5698" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Bo Xilai and first-wife Li Danyu"][/caption] Raise the army banner, And laugh still more, gazing at the red cosmos, Spare no effort to move forward. Commendations to New York Times senior writer Edward Wong, Shanghai bureau chief David Barboza, and researchers Mia Li, Xu Yan and Amy Qin, who have produced the Bo Xilai story of the week, ti ...

"A fair few were drunks, philanderers and frauds and more than one was a spy," writes Paul French in Through the Looking Glass, a book about China's foreign correspondents from the Opium Wars to Mao. "They changed sides, they lost their impartiality, they displayed bias and a few were downright scoundrels and lairs of the first order." And like so, French also neatly articulates exactly what Xinhua thinks o ...

Two huge announcements from Xinhua this evening -- concerning two men who are more or less intricately tied -- impeccably timed for just the moment when everyone's preparing to start their holiday and stop caring about news. First: Bo Xilai has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and his public office, according to a decision made at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Com ...

Via John Saeki Wang Lijun, who will forevermore be known as "flamboyant" in Western media, was sentenced to 15 years in prison today on four counts, "defection" probably being the gravest. That he did not get a more severe sentence is interesting, and bodes unwell for his one-time comrade Bo Xilai, with whom he will always be linked. Before we shift the attention to Bo though -- a colorful character in his ...

The "open trial" of Wang Lijun, on charges of bribe-taking and "bending the law for selfish ends," according to Xinhua, began this morning. It is now over, having taken place "under tight security before a carefully selected audience," according to the Guardian, from which the above picture is taken. "Foreign journalists were not permitted to attend." Yesterday, Wang, the former Chengdu vice mayor and polic ...

In the most non-suspenseful verdict ever, a court in Hefei, Anhui province (read: the Party) has officially sentenced Gu Kailai to "death with a two-year reprieve" for murdering Neil Heywood, as expected. What this means is that Gu will not be put to death, assuming she doesn't commit another crime in the next two years. And then it's off to a plush retirement home -- sorry, prison -- and no one will rememb ...

[caption id="attachment_4533" align="alignnone" width="324" caption="Alexander Yuan / AP"][/caption] If you were counting, the "trial" lasted all of a few hours, ending just now with Gu Kailai not contesting the charge that she murdered British businessman Neil Heywood. So much for transparency of law. Did we learn anything from this process? Gu was never going to win their game, so she didn't play. A date ...

Just look at her. That face. In a snap it could transform into a teeth-baring devil or a demurring tigress. Few people in the world could command attention like so -- indeed, demand it by simply biting down so that her cheeks -- much like her glare -- lock into place. She is the type who would whisper into the ear of a gentleman 20 years her junior, through flashing teeth, I would tear you apart. And don't ...

By Drake Moreau I was disgustingly smashed on a recent Tuesday when the name came up. It's all anybody's been talking about nowadays, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, even though everything being reported is the same, vague crap. No one knows what's going on, so everyone repeats everyone else, with splashy headlines. The only guy with any balls to really stir up the pot is me… plus this other asshole, RF ...

Via Malcolm Moore, the Telegraph The Lament of Neil Heywood: Well, since Gu Kailai left me, I've found a new place to dwell. It's down at the end of Lonely Street at Lucky Holiday Hotel. Now, links. ...

By RFH With all the stuff going around about Bo, Bogu, Guagua, Gu and, of course, Neil and Nick Heywood, it’s getting hard for even the most Burroughs of media junkies to keep up. Every time I tell myself I’m done with it, Malcolm Moore at the Telegraph or Jeremy Page of Wall Street Journal turn up offering another fix of the good stuff. Alright, Malcolm – but dammit, this is the last time! I can’t take any ...

[caption id="attachment_2050" align="alignnone" width="477" caption="Jackie Chan, Lale Can and Bo Guagua, via The Telegraph (link below)"][/caption] Here are the more interesting bits in a day of frenetic media coverage of the Bos. THE SON "Very beautiful" apparently just means "has big baps." "Mr Bo has been romantically linked to Chen Xiaodan, the daughter of the governor of the China Development Bank and ...

[caption id="attachment_2013" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Andy Wong / AP"][/caption] Via Time's Global Spin blog Tonight's BBC's radio show World Have Your Say invited me to participate along with Tom of Seeing Red in China, blogger/researcher Isaac Mao and a student in London whose name we didn't catch. Feel free to give it a listen over links, if you will. ...

This may not have anything to do with Bo Xilai, but then again... maybe it does? [UPDATE 2, 4 pm: 薄熙来, GKL and BGG (Bo's Chinese name and the initials of his wife and son) all get blocked, too -- see screenshot after jump.] It doesn't matter if you're using an iPhone or a plain old Nokia, and it doesn't matter if you're with China Mobile or Unicom*: the phrase "on bxl" can't be sent if you're in Beijing. *W ...