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A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel

Murder, Money, and an Epic Power Struggle in China

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A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel

By: Pin Ho, Wenguang Huang
Narrated by: James Chen
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About this listen

The downfall of Bo Xilai in China was more than a darkly thrilling mystery. It revealed a cataclysmic internal power struggle between Communist Party factions, one that reached all the way to China’s new president Xi Jinping.

The scandalous story of the corruption of the Bo Xilai family - the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood; Bo’s secret lovers; the secret maneuverings of Bo’s supporters; the hasty trial and sentencing of Gu Kailai, Bo’s wife - was just the first rumble of a seismic power struggle that continues to rock the very foundation of China’s all-powerful Communist Party. By the time it is over, the machinations in Beijing and throughout the country that began with Bo’s fall could affect China’s economic development and disrupt the world’s political and economic order.

Pin Ho and Wenguang Huang have pieced together the details of this fascinating political drama from firsthand reporting and an unrivaled array of sources, some very high in the Chinese government. This was the first scandal in China to play out in the international media - details were leaked, sometimes invented, to non-Chinese news outlets as part of the power plays that rippled through the government. The attempt to manipulate the Western media, especially, was a fundamental dimension to the story, and one that affected some of the early reporting.

A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel returns to the scene of the crime and shows not only what happened in Room 1605 but how the threat of the story was every bit as important in the life and death struggle for power that followed. It touched celebrities and billionaires and redrew the cast of the new leadership of the Communist Party. The ghost of Neil Heywood haunts China to this day.

©2013 Pin Ho and Wenguang Huang (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Asia China Freedom & Security Political Science Politics & Government Espionage Haunted China Fiction
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    5 out of 5 stars

history repeats itself

absolutely fascinating and very thought provoking. made me look at my own society, it's history from rotten boroughs to banking scandals. no matter how many checks and balances there are, people will try to circumvent them. besides, regulations are only brought in after a scandal/fraud has been discovered. corruption is a never ending blight on all societies.
China is a huge country, like Russia, with a long history and major political upheavals in the 20th century. what sparked those cataclysmic changes, unless addressed, could happen again.
what the most tragic element is that the system itself corrupts and stifles any talent or any real desire to actually improve, reform or punish those who break it's laws. capitalism does not work in a one-party state, it is difficult enough to control in a democracy!
lastly, it was very interesting to see how the individuals disintegrated under the power and wealth they accumulated. as an old saying goes 'power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely '.

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