On March 26th, a senior official of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the Deputy Director of the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the Thirteenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Liu Hui, was placed under investigation and expelled from the CCP. Liu Hui was investigated while in office last year.
According to official reports, Liu Hui had connections with political fraudsters, made anonymous accusations against others, obstructed investigations, and engaged in superstitious activities. He abused his power to receive unpaid services for an extended period, accepted bribes on a large scale, used his position to benefit others in business operations and work arrangements, and illegally accepted large sums of money.
Liu Hui has been expelled from the CCP and has had his entitlements revoked. The suspected criminal issues involving him have been referred to the procuratorial authorities for review and prosecution.
On July 18th last year, official reports stated that Liu Hui, a high-ranking CCP official, was investigated while in office as the Deputy Director of the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the Thirteenth National Committee of the CPPCC.
The timing of Liu Hui’s investigation was sensitive as it coincided with the conclusion of the inspection by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Ningxia.
Born in December 1959 in Tianjin, Liu Hui joined the workforce in June 1977 and joined the CCP in December 1985.
Liu Hui served in various positions in the Ningxia government, including Deputy Secretary of the Wu Zhong Municipal Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Civil Affairs Department of Ningxia, Vice Chairman of the Ningxia Government, Member of the Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the Government of Ningxia, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Government of Ningxia.
In 2016, Liu Hui served as the Deputy Director and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group (Ministerial level) of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of the CCP; in 2022, he served as the Deputy Director of the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the Thirteenth National Committee of the CPPCC.
Liu Hui was also a alternate member of the CCP Central Committees during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth National Congress.
Leading up to the Nineteenth and Twentieth National Congresses of the CCP, Liu Hui was successively removed from his positions.
A year before the Nineteenth National Congress in June 2016, the 57-year-old Liu Hui stepped down as the Deputy Secretary of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Party Committee of the CCP. On July 3rd of the same year, he resigned from the position of Chairman of the Ningxia Autonomous Region Government and was transferred to the role of the Deputy Director and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.
Before the Twentieth National Congress, on August 24th, 2022, the 63-year-old Liu Hui was appointed as a member of the Thirteenth National Committee of the CPPCC and Vice Chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the CPPCC. In September of the same year, he no longer held the position of Deputy Director of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. After the Twentieth National Congress in 2023, on January 17th, Liu Hui was removed from the position of Vice Chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the CPPCC, a role he held for less than 5 months at that time.
Political commentator Li Yanming’s article pointed out that in recent years, the sudden removal and fall from grace of Liu Hui has caused turmoil in the political arena of Ningxia. Liu Hui’s former colleagues and subordinates have been successively investigated.
Additionally, the political factions in Ningxia’s CCP government are complex. Over the past thirty years, various high-ranking officials with ties to different political factions such as Mao Rubai from Yangzhou, Jiang Zemin’s protege Chen Jianguo from Shandong, Zhang Yi from the Central Discipline Inspection Commission of the Wu Guanzheng faction of Jiang Zemin (July 2010 – March 2013), Li Jianhua from the Central Organization Department of Zeng Qinghong’s faction (March 2013 – April 2017), Shi Taifeng, a current member of the Politburo and Minister of the Central Organization Department (April 2017 – October 2019), Chen Run’er from the Hunan Gang affiliated with Jiang’s faction (October 2019 – March 2022), and Liang Yanshun from Xi Jinping’s old team at the Central Party School and the protege of Peng Liyuan from Shandong (March 2022 – June 28, 2024), have successively governed Ningxia. Furthermore, Wang Zhengwei and Xian Hui have both served as the Chairman of the Ningxia Autonomous Region Government.