Inside China Today

Shanghai real estate tycoon illegally selling land of International Fair

Shanghai human rights lawyer Zheng Enchong revealed to media recently that the CEO of Shanghai Zhou Group, real estate tycoon Zhou Xiaodi, took part in selling to 70 hectares worth of land in the Shanghai International Fair. Zheng also implicated the brother-in-law of current Shanghai Mayor, Han Zheng.

The CEO of Shanghai Zhou Group, Zhou Xiaodi, was originally a pig farmer in Pudong Xin District, Shanghai. In September 1982, Shanghai city court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for theft and fraud. On the November 24^th 2007 the Public Security Bureau detained him again on suspicion of hiring someone to commit murder.

According to investigations, since 1982 he’s been selling off land beside the Shanghai International Fair on the bank of the Huangpu River in Pudong Xin District. In 2001 he started buying land at 6,887 Yuan per hectare. In 2007, he sold the land at 234,160 Yuan per hectare, a massive 34 times what he had paid for the land, pocketing nearly 20 billion RMB.

It was under the support of the Shanghai government that Zhou Xiaodi became the CEO of Shanghai Zhou Group. For his contribution to selling land, he was transformed from a criminal to a member of the Political Consultative Committee.

The lawyer also disclosed that according to whistle-blowers, the brother-in-law of Han Zheng also took part in selling the land of the International Fair. According to Zheng, the purpose of disclosing this to the media is in hopes that people learn the truth and stop corruption.