Nearly 10 years ago, a popular television drama in China, "Winning a Lawsuit in America," starred a smartly dressed, ambitious female lawyer fighting against the odds in a fictional case brought by a Chinese company against an American business partner. Backing her is a developing love interest, the acting mayor of a large city on the Bohai Gulf in northeastern China, who sports an intense gaze and an impressive combover.
For viewers in China, it's obvious that the characters are remarkably similar to Gu Kailai and Bo Xilai, an elite power couple now finding itself at the center of a troubling political and legal scandal. Bo, a throwback Chinese leader who is partial to Mao-era slogans and Red Guard pomp, was fired Tuesday from his position in the top echelon of the Communist Party, and Gu is embroiled in a murder investigation taking place at the intersection of politics and business.
The show shares its title with a book written by Gu, mostly based on her legal experiences in the United States. The litigation at the center of the drama involved a business dispute between Chinese companies in Dalian, a seaport town, and a bankrupt business in Alabama.
A court-appointed bankruptcy trustee had accused the Chinese companies of attempting to steal trade secrets and of defrauding the Mobile-based firm - and won a judgment of more than $1 million against the Chinese companies. In 1997, Gu led a team of lawyers to persuade the courts to overturn the judgment. In China, that was seen as a huge victory for Gu and for the country's then-budding rivalry with the U.S.
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