Ji was born in Shazhou County, Jiangsu province, in January 1957. In September 1974, he joined the Communist Party of China. He worked first as an ordinary editor and propaganda functionary in the local party organization in Suzhou. He then became deputy editor for Suzhou Daily, and a government official in Wu County. He later took on a series of increasingly senior leadership roles in the county-level city of Kunshan. He also headed the administration of the Suzhou Lake Taitourist area. In July 2001, he was elevated to the post of Deputy Secretary and acting mayor of Yangzhou, and was confirmed as the city's mayor a year later. In 2004 he was named Party Secretary of Yangzhou. Yangzhou is the hometown of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin. In 2010, Ji was promoted to mayor of Nanjing, a city with some eight million residents in its areas of jurisdiction. He worked under Party Secretary Yang Weize, with whom he was known to have a difficult relationship. As mayor of the provincial capital, Ji undertook a large number of massive development projects. In the process, many areas of the city were demolished to make way for new construction. Ji was said to have liked "doing big things", and would put extreme pressure on his subordinates to execute his plans. He once remarked that while Nanjing's construction boom could not be compared to pre-Olympics Beijing, the number of ongoing projects was "comparable to what was going on in Shanghai prior to Expo 2010." In September 2013, Ji engaged in several rounds of self-criticism at the Nanjing party organization's "democratic life meetings." At these meetings, he was reputedly rebuffed numerous times by party chief Yang Weize. Yang also criticized Ji for his leadership over a rainwater drainage system. On 16 October 2013, Ji Jianye was dismissed, detained, and investigated under Shuanggui procedures by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China due to corruption.
Investigation and trial
The party investigation concluded in January 2014 that Ji "abused his power for the illicit gain of others; took bribes personally or through his family," and was of "depraved morality." Ji was summarily expelled from Communist Party of China and his case moved to criminal prosecution. According to the 21st Century Economic Herald, Ji was cooperative with party investigators, and even wrote a confession document that was widely circulated among the party rank-and-file in Jiangsu as "educational material". In it Ji was said to have written that he was envious of the luxurious lifestyle of entrepreneurs after China's economic boom, writing, "they live in mansions, ride in nice cars, fly in private jets... they have accumulated wealth and luxury that they can never use up. I was envious." In December 2014, Ji was indicted on charges of bribery and abuse of power. Ji's trial was held in January 2015 at the Intermediate People's Court in Yantai, Shandong province. The prosecution accused Ji of taking bribes worth some 11.32 million yuan during his term as mayor and party chief of Yangzhou and as Mayor of Nanjing. Ji pleaded guilty to the charges. While Ji's legal defense team did not dispute the bribery charge, they raised some objections to the specific amount Ji took in bribes. They also argued that Ji's overall cooperation in the investigation should lessen the severity of his sentence. Various Chinese media outlets also reported that Ji purchased land in a cemetery and a mansion in Suzhou for "below market value." In a dramatic turn of events, Nanjing Party Secretary Yang Weize was himself detained for investigation in early 2015. In 2014, Ji's father-in-law and former provincial official Gao Dezheng was said to have reported Yang to the authorities accusing him of corruption. Chinese media have suggested that Yang may have played a role in presenting incriminating evidence against Ji to the authorities prior to the latter's investigation, and that Gao in turn may have been attempting to seek revenge for Ji by presenting evidence of corruption against Yang. On April 7, 2015, Ji Jianye was found guilty of bribery and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
