Want China Times
Staff Reporter
2014-07-16
Li Lei, the son of retired People’s Liberation Army general and PLA General Political Department chief Li Jinai, is rumored to have become a Buddhist monk after growing disillusioned with the corruption he has encountered in his political career.
Born in 1971, Li Lei studied physics at Peking University before completing a PhD in computing at the National University of Defense Technology in south-central China’s Hunan province. He later went on to study public administration at Tsinghua University and went on to work at the Institute of Software Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Despite having almost no experience in the political sphere, Li Lei was “parachuted” from his position as deputy chief of the Institute of Software Research into southwest China’s Yunnan province as an assistant to the governor in 2005. At the end of 2011, he was made party secretary of Yunnan’s Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture, making him the country’s youngest official at the departmental level and earning him the reputation as a future political star.
After his father retired in October 2012, Li Lei was said to have lost interest in his political career and retreated into Buddhism. He was removed from his prefectural post in January this year and returned to the Institute of Software Research.
The reason for his departure is unclear. Sources at the institute said his prefectural post in Yunnan was always intended to be temporary, while others said it was because he struggled to keep up with the demands of the job. A source from the Kunming branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on the other hand, claims Li left his post due to health concerns and was receiving treatment in Beijing.
There are also several conflicting accounts as to whether Li Lei has become a monk, though he is certainly known to be a devoted Buddhist. Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao, citing a Yunnan source, said Li has indeed become more serious in the pursuit of his faith of late and is a vegetarian, but has not officially become a renunciant. Another source at the Institute of Software Research told the paper that while Li did take some time off to clear his mind and further his Buddhist study, he has since returned to work.
However, another Hong Kong paper Ta Kung Pao reports a source as confirming that Li has indeed become a monk. One popular explanation on the internet reported by the paper said Li felt helpless in the face of rampant official corruption and refused to be a part of it, which is why he decided to abandon his political career and devote himself to religion.
