On March 18, 2026, Hu Henghua, the mayor of Chongqing, was unusually absent from a special study session of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee. Rumors emerged on March 17 that Hu Henghua was under investigation. Hu Henghua and the previously disgraced former Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, Yi Lianhong, had once worked together to govern the city of Changsha in Hunan province. It is reported that Hu Henghua’s son is allegedly one of the “Seven Young Masters” in the political scene of Hunan.
According to the Chongqing Daily, the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee’s theoretical study center held a special study session on the morning of March 18, 2026, with Yuan Jiajun, the Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, presiding over the meeting and giving a speech. The report mentioned the presence of Wang Jiong, Chairman of the Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress Standing Committee, Cheng Lihua, Chairwoman of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Chen Xinwu, Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, but did not mention Hu Henghua, the Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and the mayor.
A photo published in the Chongqing Daily showed the meeting, with Hu Henghua conspicuously absent. The evening news broadcast on Chongqing Television also showed that Hu Henghua was missing from the meeting.
Official information indicated that Hu Henghua had participated in several previous expanded special study sessions of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee’s theoretical study center.
According to the Chongqing Municipal Government’s official website, on the afternoon of March 16, 2026, Hu Henghua attended and presided over a meeting of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee’s Leadership Group for Talent Work.
A well-known commentator who often discloses movements within the top ranks of the Chinese Communist Party revealed on March 17, 2026, that Hu Henghua, Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and the mayor, was under investigation. It was also mentioned that Hu Henghua and Zhang Lianyang, the son of former Deputy Chairman of the Central Military Commission Zhang Zhen, were considered as close associates.
Publicly available information indicated that Zhang Lianyang, born in November 1944, is the son of Zhang Zhen, former Deputy Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and held the rank of Major General. He had served as the Director of the General Staff Department’s Military Representatives Office. Zhang Zhen’s eldest son, Zhang Xiaoyang, a Major General, had been the Director of the Foreign Language Institute of the People’s Liberation Army; his third son, Zhang Haiyang, a Senior General, had been the Political Commissar of the Second Artillery Corps; and his fourth son, Zhang Ningyang, a Major General, had served as the Deputy Minister of the Military Transport Department of the General Logistics Department.
On March 17, 2026, an account named “Chinese-Japanese Political and Economic Commentary (Lu President)” posted, “After what happened in Hunan, is it now Chongqing Mayor Hu Henghua’s turn? In recent years, Chongqing has seen the downfall of two Political Bureau members (Bo Xilai and Sun Zhengcai); the removal of two mayors (Tang Liangzhi and Hu Henghua); the replacement of one Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee (Ren Xuefeng); the downfall of one Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee (Wu Cunrong); and the removal of one successor (Chen Min’er). The feng shui in this place is unbeatable.”
Public records show that Hu Henghua, born in June 1963 in Hengnan County, Hunan Province, graduated with a degree in Industrial Automation from Xi’an University of Metallurgy and Architecture. He had previously served as Deputy Director of the Hengyang Steel Pipe Factory in Hunan, Vice General Manager, and General Manager of Hengyang Steel Pipe (Group) Co., Ltd. In July 2005, he became the Director and Party Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Economic Commission; in March 2008, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Yiyang Municipal Party Committee and Mayor. In January 2011, he became the Director and Party Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission. In December 2013, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee, Acting Mayor, and Mayor. In November 2015, he also served as the Party Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Xiangjiang New Area in Hunan. He was promoted to become a member of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Party Committee Secretary of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Hunan Province in November 2016. In July 2017, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee.
In October 2020, Hu Henghua was transferred to Shaanxi Province as Deputy Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In December 2021, he moved to Chongqing City as Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Mayor, and Acting Mayor. On January 21, 2022, he was officially elected as the Mayor of Chongqing.
Yi Lianhong, former Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Finance and Economic Committee of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, was arrested on February 10, 2026.
Public records showed that Yi Lianhong, a native of Liuyang, Hunan, had previously worked at the Hunan Provincial Party School and was appointed as the Executive Deputy Principal in July 2000. In May 2004, Yi Lianhong was transferred to the local government and became the Secretary of the Yueyang Municipal Party Committee in Hunan. In November 2011, he was promoted to become a member of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial Committee and held the rank of Deputy Ministerial-Level Official; the following month, he also served as the Secretary-General of the Hunan Provincial Committee. In May 2013, Yi Lianhong was reappointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee.
In July 2017, Yi Lianhong was transferred to Liaoning Province as a member of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Shenyang Municipal Party Committee. In May 2018, he was promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Shenyang Municipal Party Committee. In August 2018, Yi Lianhong became the Deputy Secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee and the Governor of Jiangxi Province. In October 2021, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee. In December 2022, he was transferred to Zhejiang Province as the Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee. In November 2024, Yi Lianhong, who had turned 65 years old, resigned from his post in Zhejiang and was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Hu Henghua and Yi Lianhong had a long-standing connection in the political scene of Hunan. Yi Lianhong served as the Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee from May 2013 to July 2017. During this period, Hu Henghua was the Deputy Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee and Mayor from December 2013 to November 2016, and the two worked together for nearly three years. Hu Henghua succeeded Yi Lianhong as the Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee in July 2017 and held the position until his transfer in July 2020.
On May 21, 2023, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission launched an investigation into the dereliction of duty by Hu Henghua, Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, in relation to the collapse of self-built houses in Changsha, Hunan Province on April 29, 2022. Hu Henghua was subsequently given a warning within the Party.
After the fall of Yi Lianhong, mainland Chinese media exposed the corruption within the Yi family, highlighting the extravagant lifestyle of his son, Yi Shiwei, who was considered one of the “Seven Young Masters” in the political circles of Hunan.
On September 19, 2024, Liu Wenjie, Director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance, and two businessmen (the Jiang brothers) fell to their deaths from the 13th floor. The official statement described it as a “homicide,” but public skepticism suggested it was due to economic disputes. Insiders revealed that Liu Wenjie had guaranteed billions of yuan in private loans, with a significant amount of funds flowing to the “Seven Young Masters” of Hunan.
According to a circulated list, the named individuals of the “Seven Young Masters” in the political scene of Hunan and their parents include: Yi Shiwei, the son of Yi Lianhong (former Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, fell from grace in February 2026); Yi Pengfei, the son of Yi Lianhong (former Deputy Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2024); Li Weiwei, the son of Li Changming (former Director of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, fell from grace in July 2024) and her ex-husband; Huang Lanxiang, the son of Huang Lanxiang (former Deputy Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference); Mei Kebao, the son of Mei Kebao (former Deputy Director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, previously served as Deputy Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee); Hu Henghua, the son of Hu Henghua (currently serving as the mayor of Chongqing, previously served as the Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee).