On May 23, 2026, there was an unusual resignation of the President of Peking University, Gong Qihuang. Gong Qihuang is a close associate of Chen Xi, a key figure in the Chinese Communist Party, from Putian, Fujian. During Chen Xi’s tenure as the Minister of the Organization Department of the Party, Gong Qihuang was successively promoted to Executive Vice President and President of Peking University.
Over the past year, there have been continuous shake-ups at the top of Peking University. Gong Qihuang’s deputy, Vice President of Peking University, Ren Yuzhong, confessed in September 2025. Gong Qihuang’s former leader and partner, former President of Peking University and Party Secretary Hao Ping, was removed from his position as Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress in October 2025.
According to a report by the official Chinese Communist Party media Xinhua News Agency on May 23, 2026, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved Gao Song as the President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Peking University. Gong Qihuang is no longer serving as the President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Peking University. On May 23, 2026, Peking University held a meeting for faculty and staff. Zhang Guangjun, Deputy Minister of the Organization Department, announced the decision and gave a speech at the meeting; Wang Jiayi, Deputy Minister of Education and Party member, Superintendent of Education, and Li Chenglin, Member of the Beijing Municipal Committee and Minister of the Organization Department, attended the meeting and delivered speeches. He Guangcai, Secretary of the Party Committee of Peking University, presided over the meeting.
Of note, the newly appointed President of Peking University, Gao Song, is half a year older than Gong Qihuang, who was removed from his position. Gao Song was born in February 1964, making him 62 years old three months ago. Gong Qihuang was born in August 1964, making him just a few months shy of turning 62. The official announcement did not mention any “further appointment” for Gong Qihuang; currently, his future career path is unclear.
Public information shows that Peking University is a key national university directly under the Ministry of Education of the Chinese Communist Party, belonging to one of the highest-level “centrally administered universities”; the administrative level of its Party Secretary and President is at the level of Deputy Minister, with the Central Organization Department responsible for inspection and selection.
Public records show that Gao Song, born in February 1964 in Suixian, Anhui, is a chemist; he graduated from the Department of Chemistry at Peking University in 1985, obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees from the same school in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He had long taught and worked at Peking University; he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007; starting from April 2013, he served as a Standing Committee Member of the Communist Party of China at Peking University and Director of Academic Affairs, Vice President of Peking University from September 2013, concurrently served as Dean of the Graduate School of Peking University from March 2015 (stopped serving in October 2017), and became Executive Vice President of Peking University in April 2018.
After the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, from October 2018 to August 2022, Gao Song served as the President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of South China University of Technology; from November 2021 to present, he served as the President of Sun Yat-sen University (at the level of Deputy Minister) and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee.
Peking University has deep and secretive connections with the high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party. Former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang, former member of the Politburo and current Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Hu Chunhua, current member of the Politburo and Minister of the Organization Department Shi Taifeng, Minister of the Propaganda Department Li Shulei all graduated from Peking University. The newly appointed President of Peking University, Gao Song, is also a fellow native of Anhui with Li Keqiang.
On the other hand, Gong Qihuang, who recently resigned as the President of Peking University, is a fellow native of Putian, Fujian with former member of the Politburo and Minister of the Organization Department Chen Xi.
According to his public resume, Gong Qihuang, born in August 1964 in Putian, Fujian, is an optical expert; he obtained his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from Peking University in 1983 and 1989, respectively, and has been teaching and working at Peking University since then; he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013; from July 2015, he served as the Executive Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Peking University, became a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China at Peking University in July 2017, and served as Vice President of Peking University.
After the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, during Chen Xi’s tenure as a member of the Politburo and Minister of the Organization Department of the Communist Party, following the transfer of Gao Song from Peking University in October 2018, Gong Qihuang had continuous promotions at Peking University; from October 2018, he concurrently served as the Director of Academic Affairs at Peking University, Dean of the Graduate School from August 2019, and became a Member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China at Peking University and Executive Vice President of Peking University from December 2019. He was appointed as the President of Peking University in June 2022.
Chen Xi and the Communist Party leader Xi Jinping were classmates at Tsinghua University. It is rumored that the two were even roommates, with one sleeping on the upper bunk and the other on the lower bunk. After Xi Jinping took office at the 18th National Congress, Chen Xi became the Deputy Minister of the Organization Department. Upon the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chen Xi entered the Politburo and officially took over the Organization Department, also serving concurrently as the President of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China. Following the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Chen Xi, who is no longer a member of the Politburo or the Central Committee, postponed his resignation as Minister of the Organization Department until April 2023, but still serves as the President (Dean) of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China in the capacity of an ordinary party member.
In April 2025, Li Ganjie, a member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Secretariat, who served as the Minister of the Organization Department in less than two years, exchanged positions abnormally with Shi Taifeng and was subsequently transferred to the Minister of the United Front Work Department. Li Ganjie is a fellow alumnus of Chen Xi from Tsinghua University and has been heavily promoted by Chen Xi in his career. During the same period, many of Chen Xi’s close aides and former subordinates at the Organization Department were either reassigned or investigated.
From 2025 to the present, there have been a series of personnel changes at the top of Peking University. In February 2025, Deputy Minister of Education of the Chinese Communist Party He Guangcai succeeded Hao Ping as the Party Secretary of Peking University. In March 2025, Qiao Jie, Executive Vice President of Peking University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was transferred to the Director of the Medical Science Department of the National Natural Science of Medicine Department. In April 2025, Zhang Jin, Vice President of Peking University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was promoted to the Executive Vice President of Peking University.
On September 17, 2025, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party announced that Ren Yuzhong, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Peking University, was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, confessed voluntarily, and was under investigation.
On December 8, 2025, Ren Yuzhong was officially expelled from the Party. The official announcement stated that Ren Yuzhong engaged in “eating and benefiting from the school,” engaged in power and money dealings, used his position to benefit others in education and training, recruitment, and employment, and illegally accepted huge sums of money.
Public records show that Ren Yuzhong was born in January 1980 in Ziyang, Sichuan Province, and in 1998, he was admitted to Peking University’s School of International Relations with the highest score in the humanities in the college entrance examination in Sichuan Province. He subsequently obtained his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Peking University. Ren Yuzhong then stayed on at the university and held various positions in several departments of the Peking University Party Committee; In March 2024, he was promoted to a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee at Peking University and Vice President, serving as Gong Qihuang’s deputy, concurrently serving as Secretary-General of the Party Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee at Peking University, assisting the Party Secretary and President in the daily work of the party and government, managing propaganda work, and overseeing multiple departments including the offices of the Party Committee and the President.
On October 28, 2025, a batch of appointments and removals were approved at the 14th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress; former President and Party Secretary of Peking University, Hao Ping, was removed from his position as Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress. The reasons for Hao Ping’s removal have not been made public to date.
Based on public records, Hao Ping, born in September 1959 in Qingdao, Shandong, graduated from the Department of History at Peking University. From 1995 to 2005, he held various positions at Peking University, including Director of the Foreign Affairs Office, Assistant to the President, and Vice President; in 2005, he became the President of Beijing Foreign Studies University.
During Chen Xi’s tenure as Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of the Communist Party of China from November 2008 to September 2010, Hao Ping became Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education of the Communist Party of China in 2009 and remained in that position until his transfer to Party Secretary of Peking University in December 2016.
During Chen Xi’s tenure as a member of the Politburo and Minister of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China, in October 2018, Hao Ping was transferred to serve as the President of Peking University, and in June 2022, he again took on the role of Party Secretary of Peking University until he stepped down in February 2025.
During Hao Ping’s tenure as President of Peking University, Gong Qihuang served as Vice President concurrently holding positions as Director of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School of Peking University, and was promoted to Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Executive Vice President of Peking University in December 2019. Gong Qihuang succeeded Hao Ping as President of Peking University in June 2022, working together with Hao Ping for two and a half years.
Hao Ping served as President and Party Secretary of Peking University for over eight years from 2016 to 2025. During this time, Ren Yuzhong steadily rose in ranks, progressively taking on positions such as Director of the Political Research Office of the Party Committee of Peking University, Minister of the Department of Personnel, Minister of the Propaganda Department, among others. In 2023, he was appointed as Secretary-General of the Party Committee of Peking University and in 2024, he was promoted to Vice President. Six months after Hao Ping stepped down as Party Secretary of Peking University, Ren Yuzhong confessed in September 2025.