Former Deputy Secretary General Tang Guohua of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee was investigated on February 28, 2026. In recent years, three former secretaries of Liaoning Province, including Chen Qiufa, the former governor and party secretary of Liaoning Province, have fallen from power one after another. Besides Tang Guohua, the list also includes former Secretary General Zhou Liyuan of the Liaoning Provincial Government and former Deputy Secretary General of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee Yu Shenbo.
Chen Qiufa, from the Chinese Communist Party’s aerospace military system, had served as the director of the National Defense Science and Technology Industry Bureau and the director of the National Aerospace Administration in conjunction with Ma Xingrui and Xu Dazhe. Chen Qiufa’s former subordinate, Zhang Jianhua, the former deputy director of the National Defense Science and Technology Industry Bureau, voluntarily surrendered himself on May 28, 2025.
On February 28, 2026, the disciplinary commission of the Chinese Communist Party released a notification on the Liaoning Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection’s investigation into Tang Guohua, the former Deputy Secretary General of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee, for “serious violations of discipline and law.”
Public information shows that Tang Guohua was promoted by the former Liaoning Governor and Party Secretary Chen Qiufa to the positions of Director of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education and Deputy Secretary General of the Liaoning Provincial Committee.
Tang Guohua, born in April 1963, had previously served as the Deputy Director and Party Committee member of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education and as the Party Committee Secretary of China Medical University from March 2014 to July 2016.
According to reports, on November 24, 2015, the then Liaoning Governor Chen Qiufa conducted an inspection at China Medical University; Tang Guohua, who was the Party Committee Secretary at China Medical University at that time, accompanied him and reported on the work.
Six months later, in July 2016, Tang Guohua was appointed as the Party Committee Secretary and Director of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education, concurrently serving as the Deputy Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee’s Committee for Higher Education.
Shortly after taking office, on August 22, 2016, Chen Qiufa visited the Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Shenyang Agricultural University for inspections and held a discussion on-site, in which Tang Guohua participated.
On April 14, 2017, the Liaoning Provincial Government Office issued a notice on the reorganization of the leadership group for deepening medical and health system reforms in Liaoning Province. The notice indicated that Chen Qiufa, who was then the Governor of Liaoning Province, was the group leader, and Tang Guohua, who was then the Director of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education, was one of the members of the group.
In October 2017, Chen Qiufa succeeded Li Xi as the Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Later, in July 2019, Tang Guohua was promoted to the Deputy Secretary General (at the level of a provincial department head) of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee.
Chen Qiufa stepped down as the Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee in October 2020, assuming the position of Deputy Director of the Education, Science, Culture, and Health Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress. Zhang Guoqing took over as the Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee.
Public reports indicate that as late as March 2021, Tang Guohua was still seen in public activities as the Deputy Secretary General of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee.
A month ago, on January 18, 2026, according to a notification from the Liaoning Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, Zhou Liyuan, the former Director of the Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress Legal Committee, was under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.”
Zhou Liyuan, born in November 1955 in Linghai, Liaoning Province, had worked in the Liaoning Provincial Government Office since 1988.
From March 2013 to January 2016, Zhou Liyuan served as the Secretary General of the Liaoning Provincial Government and the Director of the Government Office of the Province. He worked under three consecutive Liaoning governors: Chen Zhenggao (December 2007 to April 2014), Li Xi (April 2014 to May 2015), and Chen Qiufa (May 2015 to October 2017), acting as Chen Qiufa’s chief steward for nearly eight months.
On December 5, 2022, the Liaoning Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection announced the expulsion of the Communist Party membership and dismissal of Yu Shenbo, a former member of the Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee and former Deputy Director of the Committee on Social Construction. This was the first time that the Liaoning discipline inspection and supervision department revealed the downfall of Yu Shenbo, who had held positions such as Deputy Secretary General of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee.
Official resumes indicate that Yu Shenbo, born in January 1963 in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, had long served in the Liaoning Provincial Government Office. During Chen Qiufa’s tenure as Governor of Liaoning Province from June 2015 to October 2017, Yu Shenbo was a member of the Liaoning Provincial Government Office’s Party Committee and the Deputy Director of the Office, concurrently serving as the Director of the Government Office’s Inspection Room.
After Chen Qiufa was promoted to the Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee, Yu Shenbo was promoted in October 2018 to the Deputy Secretary General of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee, the Deputy Chief of the Provincial Government Office, and the Director of the Secretary’s Office (Party Secretary’s Office), becoming Chen Qiufa’s chief steward.
The latest figures to fall from power, Tang Guohua and Yu Shenbo had intersecting roles in the Liaoning Provincial Committee’s Office, serving as Deputy Secretary Generals of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee during the same period.
Chen Qiufa, born in December 1954 in Chengbu, Hunan, graduated with a degree in radar countermeasures from the Department of Electronic Engineering at the National Defense Technology University of the Chinese Communist Party in 1978. He had served in various positions within the Communist Party’s aerospace industry, including as the Deputy Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, Director of the National Atomic Energy Agency, Director of the National Defense Technology Industry Bureau, and Director of the National Space Administration.
After Xi Jinping took office following the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Chen Qiufa transitioned from the military industry to politics. He successively took over as the Governor and Party Secretary of Liaoning Province in June 2015 and October 2017, respectively. Zhang Guoqing succeeded Chen Qiufa as the Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee in August 2020. Chen Qiufa took honorary positions in the 13th National People’s Congress in October 2020.
At the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October 2022, Li Xi was promoted to the member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee and the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Zhang Guoqing was promoted to Political Bureau member, and later as the Vice Premier of the State Council. Among the three former Party Secretaries of Liaoning Province, only Chen Qiufa did not rise to the deputy national level.
Chen Qiufa, along with members of the Politburo Ma Xingrui and former Party Secretary of Hunan Province Xu Dazhe, all came from the aerospace military system. Chen Qiufa and Xu Dazhe are both from Hunan Province. From July 2010 to September 2016, Chen Qiufa, Ma Xingrui, and Xu Dazhe took turns serving as Deputy Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, and Director of the National Space Administration.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party’s aerospace military system has become a key target for rooting out corruption. Many high-ranking officials who have become subjects of investigation or implicated in scandals were colleagues or former subordinates of Ma Xingrui, Xu Dazhe, and Chen Qiufa.
On May 28, 2025, Zhang Jianhua, the former Deputy Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau, voluntarily surrendered. On February 10, 2026, he was arrested and prosecuted on charges of bribery and influence peddling.
During his tenure at the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau, Zhang Jianhua served as a subordinate and deputy to Chen Qiufa, Ma Xingrui, and Xu Dazhe. From March 2008 to January 2013, when Chen Qiufa was the Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau, Zhang Jianhua held positions such as Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau and Chief Engineer.
Ma Xingrui, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, was relieved of his duties as Party Secretary of Xinjiang in July 2025, following persistent rumors of misconduct. Xu Dazhe began to be absent from meetings of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee at the end of 2024; on October 28, 2025, Xu Dazhe was stripped of his status as a representative of the National People’s Congress.