On March 13th, Jiang Yan, a member of the Party Committee, Deputy General Manager, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary of the Board of Directors of Guizhou Maotai Group, was officially announced to have been taken down from office and placed under detention. This comes shortly after Qin Gang, Chairman of Yibin Wuliangye, another leading Baijiu company, was also detained for investigation on February 28th. This marks the second high-ranking executive in the Baijiu industry to be investigated within a span of just half a month, sending shockwaves through the Baijiu circle in mainland China.
According to an announcement by the Guizhou Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision on the evening of March 13th, Jiang Yan is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law” and is currently under investigation. She is the second core executive of Maotai to be investigated in recent times after the former Chairman Ding Xiongjun was ousted in January 2025.
On the same evening, Guizhou Maotai urgently issued a statement stating that they had received a notice from the Zunyi Municipal Supervisory Committee regarding Jiang Yan’s detention. Currently, the duties of the Board Secretary are being assumed by the Chairman Chen Hua, ensuring the normal operation of the company without significant impact.
Public information indicates that Jiang Yan, 48 years old, had worked for 11 years at the Guizhou branch of the Bank of China. In April 2012, she briefly moved to the Guizhou branch of Industrial Bank, and in October of the same year, she entered the Maotai system, participating in the establishment of Maotai Jianxin (Guizhou) Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., Maotai Jianyin (Shanghai) Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (later renamed Maotai (Shanghai) Financial Leasing Co., Ltd.), and serving as the Chairman.
In November 2021, Jiang Yan joined the core management team of Guizhou Maotai, serving as a member of the Party Committee, Deputy General Manager, Chief Financial Officer, and acting as the Secretary of the Board of Directors. In January 2022, after completing the appointment process, she officially became the Board Secretary. In December 2022, she also served as the legal representative and chairman of the Maotai Group Finance Company until her recent ousting.
It is reported that Jiang Yan was last seen publicly just over a month before this investigation. In November 2025, she attended the third-quarter performance briefing of Guizhou Maotai in her capacity as the Deputy General Manager, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary of the Board of Directors.
At present, authorities have not disclosed the specific reasons for Jiang Yan’s investigation. Notably, among the eight former Chairmen of Maotai, three have been removed from office, including Yuan Renguo, Gao Weidong, and Ding Xiongjun.
Yuan Renguo’s case is particularly noteworthy. According to reports, from 1994 to 2018, he used his positions in Guizhou Maotai Distillery to assist others in obtaining distribution rights, increasing supply, among other illegal activities, receiving over 113 million yuan in bribes. In September 2021, Yuan Renguo was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery and had all his assets confiscated. He passed away on September 9, 2023, at the age of 66 due to illness.
Gao Weidong was investigated for serious violations of discipline and law in May 2022. In February 2024, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes totaling over 110 million yuan. Ding Xiongjun underwent disciplinary review and investigation by the Guizhou Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision in January 2025. There is currently no information on whether Ding Xiongjun has been transferred to judicial authorities for sentencing.
Moreover, media reports have indicated that since 2018, over 20 individuals from Maotai Group and its subsidiaries, including key figures like Liu Zili, former General Manager of Guizhou Maotai, Gao Shouhong, former Deputy General Manager of Guizhou Maotai, and Wang Chonglin, former Chairman of Guizhou Maotai Liquor Sales Co., Ltd., have been investigated.