Recently, the Chinese Communist Party’s financial system experienced another strong tremor. Xu Yiding, the deputy director of the China Agricultural Development Bank (referred to as “AgBank”) who reached retirement age, was suddenly brought down. He became the first “financial tiger” to fall this year, and also the first senior leader of AgBank to be arrested in nearly 20 years. It is worth noting that Xu Yiding was awarded the “2017 National Innovation Award for Poverty Alleviation” in September 2017.
AgBank was accused of using the banner of “supporting agriculture” to illegally divert nearly 2 trillion yuan of policy loans into the real estate sector, causing a serious deviation from established macro policies.
Two weeks ago, it was officially announced that Xu Yiding, a member of the AgBank Party Committee and deputy director, was under investigation.
Xu Yiding became the 11th “tiger” to fall this year and the first “financial tiger” to be arrested.
Born in 1965, Xu Yiding is 61 years old this year. Since starting work in 1988, Xu Yiding’s career of over 30 years has been mostly with AgBank. He held various positions within the bank, steadily moving up the ranks. Notably, he was known as one of the key players driving AgBank’s “poverty alleviation” efforts.
Renowned financial blogger “Xiaocui Finance” conducted a detailed analysis of Xu Yiding’s career, his backing, and Xi Jinping’s so-called “great poverty alleviation” on February 24. She believes that Xu Yiding’s downfall not only involves personal corruption but also outlines a deeper issue of profit-sharing within the financial system under the backdrop of “precision poverty alleviation.”
In November 2013, during an inspection in Huayuan County, Hunan Province, Xi Jinping, for the first time, clearly proposed the political slogan of “precise poverty alleviation and categorized guidance.” Poverty alleviation was defined as a “political task” that must be completed.
Xi Jinping personally led the “State Council Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development” to promote “precision poverty alleviation” and personally supervised the efforts. A series of supportive policies were introduced, with financial resources being significantly allocated, and the entire financial system was mobilized to support poverty alleviation, with AgBank officially positioned as the main force in poverty alleviation finance due to its rural characteristics.
According to “Xiaocui Finance,” Xu Yiding was appointed as the “first person for poverty alleviation” in the financial system personally chosen by Xi Jinping that year.
In the 2027 list of the “National Poverty Alleviation Award,” Xu was the only one in the financial system to receive the “innovation award.”
At that time, it was reported that Xu Yiding proposed the concept of establishing a policy-driven financial poverty alleviation experimental zone in Guizhou based on the actual situation of the most impoverished population, the widest poverty area, and the deepest poverty level in Guizhou.
“Xiaocui Finance” pointed out that Guizhou has become a major disaster area for financial corruption. Xu Yiding was the third high-ranking official from AgBank in Guizhou to fall in recent times.
Xu Yiding was transferred back to the headquarters of AgBank from Guizhou. During his time at the headquarters, he established the “Poverty Alleviation Development Department.” From 2014 to 2016, Tang Renjian served as the deputy director of the office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs and the deputy director of the State Council Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development.
“Xiaocui Finance” stated that Tang Renjian’s position was the most powerful and concentrated position in the Xi administration’s policy of “precision poverty alleviation.” Xu Yiding invented a dazzling array of special products, such as photovoltaic poverty alleviation, tourism poverty alleviation, education poverty alleviation, etc., making it possible to package any loan into poverty alleviation projects as long as there were plenty of products available.
These standardized lending products were deemed most suitable for “bulk lending,” allowing local governments and state-owned enterprises to seek loans under the guise of poverty alleviation.
“Xiaocui Finance” emphasized that the establishment of poverty alleviation experimental zones could directly bypass various restrictions, and even if bad debts occurred, it could be considered as a “trial-error cost,” as these tactics are common in the financial industry.
Lin Li, executive director and deputy director of AgBank, stated in June 2018 that since 2015, AgBank had cumulatively issued precision poverty alleviation loans amounting to 1.52 trillion yuan.
In 2020, Tang Renjian became the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. At this time, Xu Yiding was already the deputy director of AgBank. As a policy bank, AgBank’s business is under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. During this period, the two appeared together at major conferences and project launching ceremonies multiple times.
“Xiaocui Finance” said that the central bank directly opened the floodgates of funds, allocating substantial amounts of money to AgBank for poverty alleviation, and also relaxed regulatory requirements: as long as it was a poverty alleviation project, the loan scale could be larger, and risk assessments could be more lenient.
“Xiaocui Finance” stressed that Xu Yiding’s downfall is closely related to the fact that his “backing has fallen.”
In May 2024, Tang Renjian was arrested.
Tang Renjian was accused of exploiting his positions as deputy director of the office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, deputy director of the office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Work, a member of the Guangxi Party Committee standing committee, vice-chairman of the government, deputy head of the Central Leading Group for Rural Work, and party secretary and minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, to seek benefits for others, unlawfully accepting a huge amount of money and property.
In the early 2026 anti-corruption campaign, Tang Renjian was accused of engaging in long-term power and money trading within the agricultural and poverty alleviation system.
With Xu Yiding’s “backing” falling, Xu Yiding’s “Guizhou guys” also faced downfall one after another: Liguan, who used to be the branch manager of AgBank’s Guizhou branch, was sentenced to 10 years and 9 months in prison in 2025.
Wu Biao, former deputy director of the Guizhou branch, who moved up with Xu Yiding to the headquarters, was arrested in December 2025.
As these related individuals faced trouble one after another, the corrupt details hidden behind the poverty alleviation work finally came to light.
With the massive audit of poverty alleviation funds over the past decade by the Chinese authorities since 2025, a large amount of funds were found to have been misappropriated for debt swaps or ineffective infrastructure projects.
“Xiaocui Finance” concluded that Xi Jinping’s “poverty alleviation mission” is a big joke, and with Xu Yiding’s arrest, it might be a failure. All the solid gold and silver poured in have been embezzled layer by layer. Without reforming the Communist Party system, this campaign under the guise of anti-corruption “will never cease.”