But his critics claim that Mr. Bo’s populist facade hid abuses of power and corrupt self-enrichment by him and his family. Mr. Bo fell abruptly from power in March last year, more than a month after the former police chief of Chongqing, Wang Lijun, fled to a United States Consulate. Mr. Wang disclosed accusations that Mr. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, was involved in the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood, who knew the Bo family. And he accused Mr. Bo of trying to silence concerns about the case.

Ms. Gu was tried last August and found guilty of fatally poisoning Mr. Heywood in a hotel villa in Chongqing in November 2011. She received a death sentence with a reprieve, meaning the sentence is likely to be reduced to a long prison term. Mr. Bo was expelled from the Communist Party in September, when the authorities began a formal criminal investigation.

“We still don’t know what specific allegations lie behind the three charges against Bo Xilai,” said Li Zhuang, a lawyer in Beijing who became one of Mr. Bo’s fiercest critics after Mr. Li was jailed in Chongqing. Mr. Li had worked as a lawyer for a Chongqing businessman accused of running a criminal network.

“He could be accused of abusing power by trying to conceal or failing to report the Heywood murder,” Mr. Li said in a telephone interview. “From what I’ve heard, the sums involved in the corruption case are not as much as in some other corruption cases, but I think Bo Xilai’s damage to rule of law, private enterprise and justice was much worse than those other cases.”

An associate of Mr. Bo’s family said the prosecution’s case would feature Ms. Gu’s testimony, although it was unclear whether she would appear at the trial or, as is often done in China, give written testimony. The associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect himself from official recrimination, said Ms. Gu might testify about, among other things, a villa in France that could form part of the corruption accusations. Phone calls to Mr. Bo’s court-appointed lawyer, Li Guifang, were not immediately answered Sunday night.

Mr. Bo has not been seen or heard in public since March last year, and it remains unclear whether he will contest the charges. But the government is taking no chances by holding the trial in Jinan, a city far from Chongqing. Many residents of Chongqing still think fondly of Mr. Bo.