Guo Boxiong

Guo Boxiong 郭伯雄
General Guo Boxiong
Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission
In office State Commission: 16 March 2003 – 14 March 2013 Party Commission: 15 November 2002 – 15 November 2012 Serving with Hu Jintao, Cao Gangchuan, Xu Caihou and Xi Jinping
Chairman	Jiang Zemin Hu Jintao
Personal details
Born	July 1942(age 74) Liquan, Shaanxi, China
Political party	Communist Party of China (1963–2015, expelled)
Military service
Allegiance	People's Republic of China
Service/branch	People's Liberation Army
Rank	General (1999–2016, deprived)
Commands	Beijing Military Region Lanzhou Military Region

Guo Boxiong (born July 1942) was a retired general of the People's Liberation Army of China. He served as the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, China's top military council, between 2002 and 2012. During the same period he also held a seat in the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, China's top decision-making body. He was expelled from the Communist Party on 30 July 2015. On July 25, 2016, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery.

Guo was born in Liquan County, Shaanxi province. In August 1958, Guo, aged 16 and just finished middle school, began working at a military factory in Xingping, Shaanxi province. Guo joined the People's Liberation Army in 1961. Two years later, he joined the Communist Party of China. Guo was trained at China's National Defense University and the Xi'an Army Academy in People's Liberation Army Military Academy where he graduated.

Guo earned a series of promotions in the 1970s. In the 55th Division of the 19th Army, Guo rose from a soldier to chief of staff of the 55th Division by 1982. By 1983 Guo was chief of staff of the 19th Army until 1985, when he became deputy chief of staff of the Lanzhou Military Region after a major re-organization of the PLA that took place under Deng Xiaoping. Afterwards Guo became commander of the 47th Group Army for three years. In 1993 Guo became deputy commander of the Beijing Military Region, the heart of China's defense establishment, and in 1997 commander of the Lanzhou Military Region. In September 1999, Guo became a member of the Central Military Commission, deputy chief of staff, and was also promoted to the rank of General (the highest rank in the army).