我本望保持低调，对近期媒体报道不多说话，但这几周被持续炒作，还有人上传私人视频，断章取义，引来猜测。十二年来，我们所有当事人未曾对外讲一句自辩的话，任由言论宰割，本习以为常。但因我新婚，又被翻旧账，让我困惑。这许多的误解，尽管一言难尽，在此做个简略答复（小学中文水平，见谅）。
一、个人行为
华尔街时报当年头版爆我开法拉利，接某某人约会等，经纽约时报及其它媒体深入调查，证实确为“一派胡言”，导致华尔街时报低调回收（retract），其文章作者也因不实报道而含羞隐退。说我是花花公子，不错，我爱美女。 但说我爱开“超跑”，去吃个饭都要穿“tux”，这也太做作了吧？此虚构一文来源何处？报道明确带有法律上所说“actual malice”，幕后又曾怎样操作？很多人都被这忽悠。
还有更老的说法是我在牛津被退学。我第一年的确没认真上学，上课常常临阵抱佛脚，头晚熬夜写论文。我当时一心竞选Oxford Union，也为此开了无数次派对活动，之后便被Balliol校方禁止在校内住宿，只准进来上课。我当年不知轻重，对不起教授们的厚望，为此我一直深表歉意。但从未被“退学”过。我09年加一Gap Year，是因为我妈妈病危，回国陪她。
至于我其它行为问题，我妈妈看的最贴切。她曾写给我一语录小册告诫提醒我，我可拍照上传。
二、“不义之财”
我妻子最近笑问我，说网上流传我家海外巨额资产在哪？我说我也希望有。要是有，我们何必辛苦挣钱？当年几百人的调查组，几经周折，盘计我父母几十年历程，也没找到这口中的“上亿家产”。所以，若有人知晓，请告诉组织，也请告诉我！
有人说我父母贪，也有人说他们胸怀大志，难道两者兼具？
还有人说，徐明是我们家的“白手套”。他的确跟我们家关系密切：他不仅仅是成功企业家，而睿智过人，卓尔不群，是我记忆一生的好友。他给予我的“财富” ，好比金山 - 是对事物的剖析见解。我们关系正大光明，难道官商背景，成为朋友，一定要猥琐？
众所周知，我妈妈的事务所当时在北京首屈一指，是交税大户，当然可支付我的生活费，我也为妈妈的成就引以为豪。她特殊身份与背景虽会吸引很多客户，但不能因此否认她当律师的才华。她是首位为中国公司在美打赢官司的律师，其故事成书，还被拍成电视剧《胜诉在美国》。
为了避免闲话，以前父母禁止我从商，就连暑期到投行实习，都不允。事发后我反倒更加自由，有机会凭个人实力竞争，有上有下，淋漓尽致。如今从法律界到华尔街，我来去自如，用不着靠背景挣钱。
一直以来，我也只持有中国护照，2016年从新补过。
三、父亲过失
我父亲过失三处。其一，他一向单纯认为，只要埋头苦干，专注民生和经济，就算是好领导。但也正因如此，他不善一对一的沟通，忽略了人之常情，让人觉得他独来独往，甚至盛气逼人，不和谐。中国人多地广，发展需要稳定，稳定需要和谐，他沟通不够。
其二，唱红，事与愿违。他觉得人们赚到钱以后，是需要有点精神的。他本来提倡多读中西经典，唱气宇轩昂的传统红歌。可是其席卷成运动，一发不可收拾，只有顺势而为。熟悉我们的人都知道，中国没几家比我们更痛恨文革。我爸爸当时丧母入狱，家破人亡；我姥姥当时看到我从798 画廊买回来的有文革标语的包，都会头晕。让唱红演变如此，他管理不当。
其三，打黑，用人不当。重庆黑势力猖獗，可问重庆人民的感受。爸爸要搞经济，非首先解决这问题。此事我相信应该通过法律治理，可重庆世态严重，各方利益纠葛，容不得四平八稳。爸爸明知其不易，只有在敢和不敢之间选择。他跟我说，“若我不痛下决心打黑，怎么对得起你爷爷？”。那些说他打黑是为巩固自身在渝的位置，愚昧无知：当时黑伞们巴结他都来不及，若顺其自然，反而会一帆风顺。
可是启用王立军，骑虎难下。王最初来到我们视野时，是铁岭一位英雄警察，重用他，本以为他铁面无私，敢于跟黑势力拼。一路提拔后，他却权欲熏心，打黑成为黑打，滥用职权，目中无人。
王知道我妈妈火眼金睛，便借着她身体虚弱，自称懂法医，成为她的健康总管，随之持续给她下药，令她长期卧床不起，足不出户。当我爸爸察觉后，开始疏远王，但为时已晚。王早开始布局，另有靠山，筹备把柄，安排海伍德来渝等一系列幕后操作，最后引发美使馆一事。
四、母亲无辜
作为儿子，凭妈妈的高雅和智慧，我不相信她会沦落到谋杀。
作为当事人，我看不到杀人动机。海伍德与我家毫无瓜葛，仅为普通朋友。我去英国，入哈罗，跟他毫无关系。我父母和我认识他时，我已在哈罗三年，被介绍的前提便因他是唯一在大连居住的哈罗校友。他在中国经商不顺，曾恳求我们帮他在国内开路。被拒绝后虽然不爽，但我从未感到他威胁。王立军倒是对他一直极度关注，邀他来渝，安排他入住王实际拥有的楼，让我妈妈去会面…
作为律师，我看证据不足。又有那个律师对此事看到证据充足？
五、无政治野心
薄X两家不曾有过节，上辈过世，爷爷曾赠祭文“炉火纯青…”。我父亲从未妄想与其争锋，并早表态会全力助为。我父母入狱也与他无关，但不断有人挑拨离间，还有那些不知情的人，自报奋勇，瞎揣摩上级心思。
—
以上简略几点，大家信不信随意，以后再慢慢说。一个没有敌人的人，是不会有朋友的。但凭我父母一生所受之屈，名声扫地，又何足挂齿？我毛病虽多，但腰板是直的。不管我们相距多远，他们照样是我最崇拜，最亲近的人。
瓜瓜
[Now in English]
I had hoped to keep a low profile and to wed away from the spotlight, but the Chinese media frenzy in recent weeks, including video leaks of my nuptials taken out of context, continue to draw speculation. Over the past 12 years, my family and I have never defended ourselves in public and have instead relented to the vitriol of a misinformed public. But the resurgence of past events now oblige me to respond - briefly for now, for there’s too much to be said.
1. Personal conduct
The WSJ once reported on their front page that I drove a Ferrari to pick up a controversial date. Subsequent investigations by NYT and others confirmed that these were baseless fabrications, which caused the WSJ to retract the article (discreetly, of course). True, I was a playboy and I am partial to beautiful women; but to claim that I wheeled around in Ferraris and attended restaurants in a “tux” is reminiscent of trite fantasies of a Korean soap opera. I wonder, what were the contrivances that germinated this article, with its unabashed “actual malice”; and for it to have been published at the most politically sensitive time?
There was also a claim that I was expelled from Oxford. It’s true that I barely studied in the first year. I was wont to cram essays the night before tutorials and instead prioritised running for elections at the Oxford Union - an enterprise that involved copious partying (fun times), but eventually led my college, Balliol, to ban me from campus grounds (sad times). I was hyper and immature,I deeply regret having let down my tutors. But I was never “expelled”, and was reformed in time to sit my Finals. I also took a gap year in 2009 to be back in China with my mother, who was critically ill.
2. Corruption allegations
My wife jokingly asked me, where is the fortune that my family has allegedly stashed away overseas? I said, “I wish I knew!”. If we had such wealth, we wouldn’t have needed to toil away and burn the midnight oil. Back then, an army of meticulous investigators, hundreds strong, had scrutinised every scintilla of our lives, and they still didn’t turn up the alleged “billions”. So, if someone knows the whereabouts, tell the officials, and tell me too!
It has been suggested that Xu Ming was our family’s “white glove.” Indeed, Xu was close to us. He was not only a trailblazing entrepreneur, but an insightful friend whose gifts to me was his wisdom - and this is worth mountains of gold. Our relationship was always aboveboard. Must every political-business relation be sordid?
As was well known, but seems to have been forgotten, my mother founded one of the most successful and prestigious law firms in Beijing at the time. She represented Fortune 500 companies, was a major taxpayer, and was more than capable of supporting my living expenses.
My mother’s background no doubt gave her an advantage - fair or not, she had the talents to back it up. She was the first lawyer to successfully defend the interests of Chinese companies in US courts, which was popularly retold in the book and later TV series “Victory in America”.
On my part, for the sake of avoiding any semblance of a conflict of interest, I was forbidden to even intern at any for-profit business. My parents’ fall freed me from such limitations, and I was able to compete on my own merits in the open market. Through ups and downs, successes and failures, I now have the confidence to hold my own in any big league, from law to finance to policy.
3. My father’s three errors
First, my father thought that hard work and simply improving the lives of the people were enough to make him a good leader. He neglected the necessity of building rapport and was particularly poor at one-on-one communication. This made him appear aloof and arrogant. In a country as big, complex, and diverse as China, our millennia-old experience has taught us that stability is the prerequisite for prosperity, and harmony is the prerequisite for stability. My father’s ways were disharmonious.
Second, my father believed that after people got rich, they need spiritual wealth. He started with advocating the reading of classics, both Eastern and Western, including the works of Rousseau and Madison, and singing rousing revolutionary songs that are part of our cultural heritage. But this snowballed into an out-of-control mass movement that harked back to a dreaded era. My father had mismanaged.
There is hardly any family that abhors the Cultural Revolution more than mine. Both my grandfathers, my father and his siblings, were imprisoned - my father was only 16. The ones not locked up were exiled or became orphans - my mother at 8. One grandmother was murdered, and the other would get nauseous from simply seeing a bag I brought home with a Cultural Revolution slogan.
Third, Chongqing was plagued by entrenched corruption and criminal syndicates that permeated government and society. Don’t take my word for it - ask anyone from Chongqing. My father realised it was impossible to develop the city without first gutting its underbelly. While I firmly believe in the rule of law, I also understand that a procedurally intact and judicious approach is not always possible (cf. Gotham City). My father knew his choice was between doing and not doing. Before he launched the campaign, he told me, “if I didn’t fight criminal gangs, how can I face your grandfather’s memory?”
Those who say that my father’s motive was to consolidate power in Chongqing, are ignorant rubes. As the Party Secretary sent down from Beijing, the local forces were all vying for his favour. Had my father played ball and gone with the flow, politically, it would have been smooth sailing.
But my father erred in his leadership, he picked the wrong person to be in charge. Wang Lijun initially appeared before us as a hero cop and daredevil crime fighter. But as he was successively promoted, he became more ruthless and power-hungry. The campaign against the abuse of power hence became a campaign of abuse.
Wang anticipated that my typically perspicacious mother would become meddlesome, so under the guise of his self-professed medical expertise and role as our security chief, he managed her medical team and administered drugs to keep her in a weakened state. By the time evidence mounted of Wang’s misdeeds, it was too late. He had sought out alternative patrons and laid the groundworks, which culminated in the showdown at the US Consulate.
4. My mother’s innocence
As a son, I do not believe that someone with her grace and intelligence would resort to murder.
As an insider, I see no motive. Neil Heywood was a casual friend who posed no threat. Contrary to widely reported claims, he had nothing to do with me going to the UK or enrolling at Harrow. In fact, we only met when I was in my third year at Harrow, and was only introduced because he had the unique distinction as an “Old Harrovian” living in Dalian. He sought our help with his struggling business ventures in China, and while he was disappointed when we declined, it’s far-fetched to say he posed any threat. Wang, however, took a peculiar interest in him, went out of the way to emphasise his false “spy” credentials, invited him to Chongqing, put him at the hotel that Wang (effectively) owned, and brought my mother to visit him…
As a lawyer, I see no convincing evidence of my mother’s culpability - not first degree murder, not even manslaughter. I ask, which lawyer could disagree otherwise?
5. No ambition for political contest
Contrary to rumours, the Bo and Xi families have no history of conflict. When the elder Xi passed away, my grandfather commemorated him with an effusive, heartfelt epitaph. My father had pledged his unreserved support for Xi early on and never sought to compete against him. My parents’ imprisonment also had nothing to do with him. Yet, there are still those trying to compose political drama out of it.
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The above points are my brief response - believe or not, up to you. Omission does not imply acquiescence. I enjoy the vitriol too, for I believe a person without an enemy has no friends.
My parents remain my most admired people (along with my wife!). As I said to my private guests about the trio:
“Lucky men search for their mother in their wives, and I see my wife, the way that my
father sees my mother: she uplifts me when I’m despondent; brings me down when I’m overbearing; and moderates me when I’m overzealous…she also kicks me off the sofa when I play games for too long.”
— Guagua
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