18:07
Tieng Anh Vui
Bo Xilai, the disgraced Chinese politician once tipped for the highest levels of power, is to go on trial in the city of Jinan on Thursday.
Mr Bo, who has not been seen in public for 18 months, is charged with bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
Formerly the Communist Party leader in Chongqing, he has since been stripped of official roles in a scandal that has seen his wife and police chief jailed.
Mr Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, was convicted of the murder of Briton Neil Heywood.
Analysis
Few doubt that Bo Xilai will be found guilty when his trial concludes. But almost everything else about his trial is under question.
Few know why Jinan was chosen for the trial; probably because it is a neutral location. Jinan lies far away from Bo Xilai's bases of political support in Dalian, where he worked in the 1990s, and Chongqing, the western metropolis where he remains a popular figure.
The actual start time and length of the trial are also under dispute. The case is scheduled to be heard starting at 08:30 on Thursday, leaving some to wager it will last for two days so it can wrap up just in time for the weekend to begin. However, the trial of Gu Kailai was also expected to last two days but ended after just one.
Former police chief Wang Lijun, participated in a secret court session a day before his trial was formally scheduled to start, leaving some to assert the same will happen with Mr Bo. However, some Hong Kong media outlets insisted that Mr Bo would not arrive in Jinan until Wednesday night.
Chinese officials have likely spent months working out the script for Mr Bo's court appearance, but they will not reveal those details until they are ready.
Questions emerged over the death of Mr Heywood in February 2012, as China prepared for a once-in-a-decade leadership handover.
Mr Bo, 64, had been seen as a candidate for promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee, China's seven-member top decision-making body.
Instead he faces multiple charges and is widely expected to be found guilty.
His downfall was seen as the biggest political shake-up to hit China's ruling elite in decades.
'Bartered'
It is not clear to what extent trial proceedings will be made public. No foreign journalists were given access to the trials of Gu Kailai or Wang Lijun, the police chief whose flight to a US consulate triggered the chain of events that felled Mr Bo.
Part of Wang's trial was also held in secret - similar rumours have circulated over Mr Bo's trial but these cannot be confirmed. It is also not known how long Mr Bo's trial will last.
It is taking place at the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, which is in Shandong province.
Ahead of the trial security was in place at the court house, where a small group of supporters of Mr Bo staged a brief protest on Wednesday.
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Continue reading the main story
Earlier this week, Mr Bo's son, Bo Guagua, issued a statement saying he hoped his father would have the chance "to answer his critics and defend himself without constraints of any kind".
The verdict, he said, would carry no weight if his well-being had been "bartered for my father's acquiescence or my mother's further co-operation" - an apparent reference to unconfirmed reports that Gu Kailai may appear as a witness against her husband.
Details of the charges Mr Bo faces remain scant. State-run Xinhua news agency says he is accused of taking advantage of his office to accept an "extremely large amount" of money and properties, and embezzling public money.
'Resolute action'
As party leader in Chongqing, Bo Xilai was seen as a powerful, populist and charismatic figure.
Bo Xilai scandal: Timeline
- 2 February 2012 -Wang Lijun seeks refuge at the US consulate in Chengdu
- 15 March - Bo Xilai is removed from his post as party chief in Chongqing
- 26 March - UK confirms it has asked China to re-examine Neil Heywood's death
- 10 April - Bo Xilai is stripped of his Communist Party posts. His wife Gu Kailai is investigated over Mr Heywood's death
- 20 August - Gu is given a suspended death sentence for the murder of Neil Heywood
- 28 September - Bo Xilai is expelled from the Communist Party
- 25 July 2013 - Mr Bo is charged with corruption, bribery and abuse of power
He was known for two high-profile campaigns: a large-scale crackdown on crime and a drive to promote China's old communist values. But analysts said his ambition earned him enemies and he was considered controversial by top party leaders.
In February 2012, around the time that China was preparing to promote a new generation of leaders, his police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in Chengdu amid an apparent fall-out with Mr Bo.
Shortly afterwards, Chinese authorities announced that they were reinvestigating the death of Mr Heywood, and both Mr Bo and his wife disappeared from public view.
Gu Kailai has since been jailed for the murder of Mr Heywood - a crime she carried out, state media say, because of differences over a business deal. Wang has also been jailed for his role in covering up events, among other charges.
Mr Bo is the last major player in connection with the case to face trial.
Whether - and how - his trial relates to the Heywood case is not known.
His name currently does not appear to be blocked on China's Twitter-like Weibo micro-blogging platform, in contrast to previous months.
On the Sina Weibo account of the Jinan Intermediate People's Court, posts appeared to be heavily censored and most supported the official stance.
"Support the party Central Committee's resolute action against corruption!!" wrote user "haohaohaoa".
But Liu Shengjun, a columnist for the liberal-leaning Caixin magazine, argued elsewhere that Beijing had failed to address Mr Bo's "main crime" committed during his anti-crime campaign in Chongqing.
"The damage he caused by trampling on the rule of law is much more serious than corruption," he wrote.
Other internet users were more complimentary, however. One user, "Small Town Girl", said: "Looking at him from a rational perspective, he made contributions to the people of Dalian and Chongqing."
CLICKABLE
Neil Heywood
Bo Xilai
Gu Kailai
Bo Guagua
Wang Lijun
Patrick Devillers
Jiang Feng Dolby
Dalian
Chongqing
French villa
Bo Xilai
Former Communist Party chief of Chongqing and Politburo member
Mr Bo, the son of a famous Communist Party hero, was once a political high-flyer and described as the nearest China had to a Western-style politician. He ran the coastal city of Dalian and was commerce minister before becoming Party chief of south-western metropolis of Chongqing. He was removed from office following Neil Heywood’s death and was charged with bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
Gu Kailai
Lawyer and wife of Bo Xilai
Ms Gu, whose father was a prominent revolutionary general, is a well-known lawyer and second wife of Bo Xilai.
She studied at Peking University before opening the Kailai law firm in Beijing. Fluent in English, she and her husband were once one of China's most powerful couples. Last year, she was convicted of Mr Heywood's murder, reportedly over a deal gone wrong, and given a suspended death sentence.
Bo Guagua
Son of Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai
Educated at the exclusive British private school Harrow, followed by Oxford and Harvard Universities, Bo Guagua has been described as one of China's "princelings" - the descendants of revolutionary leaders often criticised for their lavish lifestyles. Since his parents’ fall, Bo Guagua has remained in the US, where he is preparing to study law at Colombia University in New York. In a statement issued ahead of Mr Bo’s trial, Bo Guagua said he hoped his father would be allowed to defend himself "without constraints".
Wang Lijun
Former Chongqing police chief
Mr Wang, once a popular police chief and Bo Xilai’s deputy in Chongqing, began his career in law enforcement in the Inner Mongolia region before moving to Chongqing in 2008. He worked closely with Mr Bo but, after an apparent falling out, Mr Wang fled to the US consulate in Chengdu, near Chongqing, where he raised concerns about the circumstances of Neil Heywood’s death. Mr Wang has since been jailed for 15 years, charged with defection, power abuse and bribe-taking.
Patrick Devillers
French architect
Mr Devillers is believed to have met Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai in the 1990s while living in Dalian and reportedly helped design street grids in the port city while Mr Bo was mayor. French documents quoted by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times said he also oversaw the running of a villa in the South of France - allegedly belonging to Mr Bo - between 2001 to 2007. He was detained in Cambodia, where he lives, before voluntarily flying to China in July 2012. Reports say Chinese authorities wanted to talk to him as a witness in the Neil Heywood case.
Jiang Feng Dolby
Television presenter and business woman
Mrs Dolby, born in China but now a British citizen through marriage, is well known in China as a state TV presenter. However, after moving to Britain she ran an educational consulting company, which it is claimed helped get the children of wealthy Chinese couples into leading British and American schools and universities. Mrs Dolby was named in official documents quoted by the Wall Street Journal as the manager of a villa in the south of France that is expected to be one of the key pieces of evidence at Mr Bo's trial.
Dalian
Major seaport in north-eastern China
It was here that Bo Xilai's political career was set on the fast track when he was appointed mayor. Mr Bo was credited with developing Dalian from an unremarkable port city to a showcase for China's economic boom. It was also in Dalian that Mr Bo and Gu Kailai reportedly first met Mr Heywood and Mr Devillers.
Chongqing
Major city in south-western China
Bo Xilai was appointed Communist Party chief of Chongqing in 2007. Wang Lijun, the city’s former police chief, was his deputy. Mr Bo became well-known for a high-profile crackdown on crime and advancing the "Chongqing model" of development, which spent heavily on developing public housing and infrastructure. However, his ambition and flamboyant style earned him enemies and raised eyebrows among party leaders back in Beijing. It was in a hotel room in Chongqing that British businessman Neil Heywood was found dead in November 2011.
French villa
Cannes, France
A six-bedroom villa in the south of France is expected to play a role in the trial of Bo Xilai. The $3.5m (£2.2m) property in Cannes was allegedly given to Mr Bo as a bribe. It it claimed to have been bought by Xu Ming, a billionaire backer of Mr Bo in Dalian. French documents quoted by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times state people close to the Bo family have been involved with the villa since 2001. French architect Patrick Devillers, British businessman Neil Heywood and Feng Jiang Dolby, a former presenter on China's state TV, have all overseen the running of the property, the papers said.
Neil Heywood
British businessman
Having enjoyed a privileged education at Harrow school, Mr Heywood moved to China in the early 1990s where he learned Mandarin, married his Chinese wife Wang Lulu and started a business career. The father-of-two worked as a consultant to foreign businesses seeking investment in China. It was while living in the north-eastern port city of Dalian in the mid-1990s that Mr Heywood met Bo Xilai - then the city’s mayor - and his wife Gu Kailai. More than a decade later, Mr Heywood was found dead in a hotel room in the south-western city Chongqing - where Mr Bo had since become Communist Party chief. In 2012, Gu Kailai and an aide were convicted of poisoning him because of "economic conflict".
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