Opinion | Is ex-NPC chief Wu Bangguo's son latest descendant to be promoted?

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Wu Lei and Wu Bangguo seen in official photos. Screenshots from weibo.

Published: 3:12pm, 15 May 2013Updated: 4:13am, 29 Aug 2013

An unusual Xinhua report has led to speculation that China's state-run news agency has taken a subtle shot at the promotion of a son of one of China's most powerful political figures.

The cryptic report led to online debate on whether Wu Lei, a 37-year-old official soon to be promoted, could be the younger son of Wu Bangguo, the recently retired head of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress.

Wu Bangguo ranked second after former president Hu Jintao in state protocol, before he retired in March. Almost nothing is known about his family background.

Wu Lei is set to become a deputy director of Shanghai's Economic and Information Technology Commission.

As usual, the city published a list of 10 imminent appointments in a public notice in the local Liberation Daily on Monday. The notice called on the general public to report corruption before these officials assumed office.

A day later, the national news agency and the People's Daily, the Communist Party's main newspaper, picked up the local notice and mentioned Wu Lei by name in the headline.

The unusual move lead observers to assume that state media singled him out to point to nepotism in his assignment.

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