Bo family

Bo's first wife was Li Danyu, an army surgeon and daughter of the Chinese politician Li Xuefeng. The two met in 1975, when Bo was working as a manual laborer at a factory in Beijing. They wed in September 1976 and had a son the following year, Li Wangzhi, born Bo Wangzhi, who also goes by Brendan or Brandon Li, and Li Xiaobai.^[9][10]

In 1978, the gaokao was re-instated and Bo Xilai was admitted to Peking University, where Gu Kailai was also a student. On their son's fourth birthday, June 20, 1981, Bo surprised Li by asking for a divorce. Li refused, but moved out of their home at Zhongnanhai. The case went to court and the divorce was completed in 1984. Gu, in a book she wrote, said she met Bo in 1984 in Dalian, but Li claimed in their divorce case that Bo had been in an affair with Gu after the two met at Peking University. After the divorce, Li did not stay in contact with Bo and insisted that their son change his surname from Bo to Li.^[9][11]

Bo's second wife is Gu Kailai, a prominent lawyer. Gu's father, Gu Jingsheng, was a Communist revolutionary. Her mother, Fan Chengxiu, was a descendant of the renowned Song dynasty chancellor and poet Fan Zhongyan.^[12][13] Bo and Gu were schoolmates at Peking University, and according to Li Danyu, Bo's first wife, Bo had an affair with Gu at the time. According to Gu, however, she first met Bo in Dalian in 1984. The two married in 1986 and had a son, Bo Guagua, in 1987, after which Gu founded the Kailai Law Firm in Dalian. In 1995, the firm relocated its headquarters to Beijing and closed its Dalian branch in 1999. In 2001, it was renamed Beijing Angdao Law Firm.^[12][14]

The couple drew criticism for using Bo's political clout to further the interests of his wife and her law firm.^[15] Jiang Weiping claimed that Gu served as Bo's "gatekeeper" when Bo was the mayor of Dalian, regularly accepting gifts and bribes from property developers seeking access to him, and from party officials seeking government appointments.^[16] Bo denied that his wife had profited from his position, saying that his wife had retired her legal practice while the couple lived in Dalian in the 1990s. Gu left for Britain with their son in December 1999, out of spite after discovering that Bo had an affair. She lived there primarily until 2007 and reportedly experienced a change in temperament after returning to China, staying at home without working and becoming increasingly paranoid and isolated. According to Bo Guagua, Wang Lijun secretly poisoned Gu "to keep her in a weakened state" in Chongqing.^[17] There was also speculation that Bo may have attempted to interfere with a corruption investigation into his wife prior to the Wang Lijun incident, which led to the downfall of the couple.^[18] In August 2012, Gu was convicted of the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood after a dispute over money which purportedly escalated until he threatened her son's life. She was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, which was commuted to life imprisonment in 2015.^[13][19]

Li Wangzhi is the son of Bo Xilai and Li Danyu. In 1996, Li graduated from Peking University Law School with an LLB degree and in 2003 from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs with a master's degree in international affairs. He was then hired by Citigroup, before becoming a businessman, active in Dalian and Beijing. He founded an investment company named "Chong'er" and adopted the pseudonym "Xiaobai".^[20]

Bo Guagua is second son of Bo Xilai and the only child of Gu Kailai. In 2006, Bo went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.^[21] Bo attracted media attention for his family background and lifestyle, often being described as a "red aristocrat" and "playboy".^[22][23] He was admitted to the Master's program in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, graduating in May 2012. From 2013 to 2016, he pursued a JD degree at Columbia Law School.^[24] After graduating from the law school, Bo has lived in Canada. Since his parents' arrests in 2012, he has never returned to China, but his passport was renewed by the Chinese government in 2016. From late 2016 to early 2021, he worked as a business analyst for the Power Corporation owned by the Desmarais family, who have maintained close ties to the Bo family.^[25]