Guangdong Provincial CPPCC Vice Chairman Guo Yonghang was recently officially dismissed from his position, being a member of the Communist Party Politburo under the leadership of Ma Xingrui, who once governed Shenzhen. Both of them hail from the same province of Shandong. The special relationship between Ma Xingrui and Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan, both also from Shandong, along with the influence of the Shandong faction in the political arena, has once again attracted attention.
Guo Yonghang, Vice Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial CPPCC, was announced to have fallen from grace on March 27. Guo Yonghang, originally from Jiyang, Shandong, has been working in Guangdong for a long time. Ten years ago, he served as the secretary to Ma Xingrui, who was then the Party Secretary of Shenzhen. Guo Yonghang later held positions such as the Party Secretary of Zhuhai, Mayor of Guangzhou, member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee and Party Secretary of Guangzhou. He was relieved of his Party Secretary position last year and transferred to the Vice Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial CPPCC in January this year.
The current member of the Politburo, Ma Xingrui, is from Yuncheng, Shandong. Since being relieved of his position as the Party Secretary of Xinjiang in July last year, rumors about his downfall have been circulating, with him being consistently absent from important meetings since the end of last year. Many of his former subordinates from his time in the aerospace sector, Guangdong, and Xinjiang, have fallen from grace one after another.
On March 31, independent commentator Cai Shenkun posted on Platform X, indicating that with Ma Xingrui’s loss of power, it seems that none of his former associates are able to escape. After the turmoil in the Xinjiang political arena, the Guangdong political landscape is also not expected to remain calm. Apart from Guo Yonghang’s official dismissal, the political career of Zhang Hu, current member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee and Executive Vice Governor, is also in a countdown. Xiao Yafei, who has already retreated to the position of Deputy Director of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, is facing a grim future. Officials who have had deep involvement with Ma Xingrui and received his favor, including his Shandong allies, are being systematically investigated.
Cai Shenkun revealed an important factor in Ma Xingrui’s political career, which is his relationship with Peng Liyuan. Little known to the public, Ma Xingrui has a special relationship with Peng Liyuan, being both part of the aerospace faction and the Shandong faction. Although born in Northeast China, he is actually from Shandong. Ma Xingrui’s father responded to a call to work in the Northeast as a miner, leading the family to move there. However, his father’s other brothers remained in Yuncheng, Shandong, which is Peng Liyuan’s hometown, and their families have had a long-standing relationship. Peng Liyuan spent a significant amount of time living with the Ma family during her childhood, a relationship that goes beyond the ordinary.
During Ma Xingrui’s tenure at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Gao Shiwen, who served as his secretary for many years and later became the Mayor of Nanchang, Jiangxi, has been absent from important meetings in Nanchang since February. The official social media account for the Nanchang municipal government, which usually updates information on “Comrade Gao Shiwen’s weekly affairs” every Sunday, ceased updates on February 8. There have been rumors on social media about Gao Shiwen being summoned for questioning.
It is worth noting that Gao Shiwen is from Qingzhou, Shandong.
Independent commentator Du Zheng previously expressed in an article in Taiwan media that Guo Yonghang and Gao Shiwen share two prominent characteristics: both were former secretaries of Ma Xingrui and are also native to Shandong. The downfall of a secretary often reflects the crisis of the leader. The shared tag of “Shandong natives” between the two confirms the notion of factional ties in the Communist Party involving hometown associations. The most significant support for the Shandong faction in the political arena comes from Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan. Ma Xingrui’s close relationship with Peng Liyuan has been instrumental in his career advancement.
Du Zheng believes that Ma Xingrui holds a prominent position in the political arena due to his favorable standing with Xi Jinping and his wife. The decision to take down Ma Xingrui now stems from the corruption within the military-industrial complex, in addition to reports of corruption within Ma Xingrui’s family. Xi Jinping has found it necessary to “shed tears and oust Ma Xingrui” in the Year of the Horse.