A prince is purged as party fights for control of China

One of the crown princes of the Chinese Communist Party has been abruptly purged ahead of China's once-in-a-decade leadership change this autumn.

On the Ides of March, 62-year-old Bo Xilai became the victim of the first major political assassination in China for six years.

A report on the website of the People's Daily, the official party newspaper, said Mr Bo, a former commerce minister and a member of the 25-man politburo, would no longer serve as the party secretary of the sprawling central city of Chongqing.

His replacement, Zhang Dejiang, is a North Korea-educated economist and vice-premier in charge of inspecting China's energy, telecommunications and transport industries.

Mr Bo's downfall was sudden and dramatic. Until last month, he appeared on course to be promoted to the politburo standing committee, making him one of the nine most powerful people in China.

The son of Bo Yibo, one of the "eight immortals" who helped to piece China back together after the terrors of Chairman Mao's final years, Mr Bo enjoyed a swift rise to the top and has previously seemed untouchable.

His son, Bo Guagua, studied at Papplewick, Harrow, Oxford and is now at Harvard. He was also spotted driving a red Ferrari around Beijing, a report Mr Bo strenuously denied.

Mr Bo's troubles began with an episode worthy of a spy drama. At the beginning of February, his former police chief, Wang Lijun, appeared at the United States consulate in Chengdu, about 210 miles from Chongqing.

Mr Wang allegedly wanted to defect and had information to trade on Mr Bo. Chinese police cars quickly encircled the consulate, but Mr Wang spent the night inside. The following morning, he was spirited away to Beijing and has not been heard from since.

At the time, Mr Bo was travelling in Yunnan province. "I felt like it came out of nowhere. I put my trust in the wrong person as a manager," he said last week, while insisting that he was not under investigation and had not offered to resign.

But support for Mr Bo within the communist party evaporated, with no one quite sure what information Mr Wang might have passed to the Americans.

"No one wanted to stand by him without knowing exactly how much evidence Wang Lijun actually had," said Zhang Ming, a professor of politics at Renmin university. "Besides, the central committee had given him a lot of chances and he had failed to cooperate with them in the past."

Mr Bo's departure is the biggest upheaval among the communist party's elite since Chen Liangyu was purged as Shanghai's party secretary in 2006. Ahead of the leadership transition, it is more evidence of jockeying among factions within the party.

Mr Bo is part of the faction headed by Jiang Zemin, the 86-year-old former president who remains a highly influential elder. His replacement is also a protege of Mr Jiang, suggesting a compromise has been struck to allow Mr Jiang's supporters to remain in control of Chongqing.

Professor Zhang suggested that Mr Bo's enormous popularity, derived in part from his astute manipulation of nostalgia for Chairman Mao's era, had troubled China's leaders.

"Mr Bo has launched Mao-style campaigns: the attacks on the gangs in Chongqing and the singing of revolutionary songs. This kind of populism was very dangerous to the party, especially when it succeeded in winning the hearts of many people,"he said. "The party is worried that Mr Bo could be another cult figure like Mao."