【Epoch Times, August 12, 2026】During the sensitive period of the Beidaihe Conference of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), there has been a series of high-level personnel changes in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, where Hu Haifeng, the son of former CCP leader Hu Jintao, holds a position. The movements of Hu Jintao and his son Hu Haifeng have once again become a focus of attention.
On August 10, 2026, the State Council of the CCP made several personnel changes: Sun Shuopeng was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs; Sun Shuopeng was relieved of his position as the Chairman of the China National Committee on Aging; Jiang Wei (female) was appointed as the Chairman of the China National Committee on Aging; Luo Wen was relieved of his position as the Director of the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Luo Wen was appointed as the Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee on July 31, 2026.
According to public records, Jiang Wei, a female, previously served as the Deputy Director of the Social Assistance Department of the CCP Ministry of Civil Affairs, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Social Organizations Comprehensive Affairs Center, and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Social Organizations Service Center.
Sun Shuopeng, of Mongolian ethnicity, born in September 1970 in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, previously held various positions such as official of the Welfare Department of the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, Deputy Director, Deputy Director and Director of the Office, Director of the Disaster Relief Department, and Director of the Organization and Personnel Department. In August 2007, he was appointed as a member of the Party Committee and Vice President of the Beijing Red Cross Society, and in June 2008, he concurrently served as the Chairman of the Beijing Red Cross Foundation. In July 2012, he became the Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the China Red Cross Foundation; and in September 2019, he was appointed as a member of the Party Committee and Vice President of the China Red Cross Society. He was appointed as a member of the Party Committee and Chairman of the China National Committee on Aging in June 2025.
One month ago, on June 30, 2026, Li Changguan, the Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs, was promoted to the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Having been born in September 1964 in Shandong, Li has been a member of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP. He has previously held positions such as Vice Governor of Shanxi Province, Standing Committee Member of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and Minister of the Organization Department, Standing Committee Member of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Qingdao Municipal Party Committee. In October 2023, Li was appointed as the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, then as the Minister of Civil Affairs, marking his latest appointment.
Li Changguan, born in Guangxi in October 1968, previously served as a Standing Committee Member of the Yulin Municipal Party Committee, Minister of the Organization Department, Deputy Secretary of the Yulin Municipal Party Committee, Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Guangxi Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Investment Promotion Bureau of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Deputy Mayor of the Guangxi Government. In September 2024, he was appointed as a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the CCP.
Following the usual practice, after being promoted to the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Li Changguan is expected to also serve as the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Additionally, on April 29, 2026, Liu Zhenguo, the Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs, was transferred to a position as a Standing Committee Member of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee, Minister of the United Front Work Department of the Provincial Party Committee, and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference. Born in November 1970 in Ningjin County, Hebei Province, Liu had previously held various positions in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, including Deputy Director of the Social Organizations Management Bureau and Director of the Social Organizations Management Bureau (Supervision Department for Social Organizations Enforcement). In July 2024, he was appointed as a member of the Party Committee and Chairman of the China National Committee on Aging, and then as the Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs in April 2025.
A year earlier, in September 2025, Shu Huihao, member of the Party Committee and Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Finance of the CCP, was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Affairs as a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Minister. Born in September 1968 in Jing’an County, Jiangxi Province, Shu had long been an official in the Ministry of Finance, serving in roles such as Director of the Comprehensive Office of the Accounting Department, Deputy Inspector and Deputy Director of the Henan Special Supervision Office of the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Inspector, Deputy Director, and Director of the Accounting Department of the Ministry of Finance. In September 2024, he was appointed as a member of the Party Committee and Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Finance.
Following the changes in leadership at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Hu Haifeng now holds the top position among the Deputy Ministers. Currently, the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs is Li Changguan, and the three Deputy Ministers are Hu Haifeng, Shu Huihao, and Sun Shuopeng. Among these four individuals, Hu Haifeng, born in November 1972, is the youngest; he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs in January 2024 and has served in the Ministry longer than the other three.
Hu Haifeng is the son of the former CCP General Secretary, Hu Jintao. He has previously served as the General Manager of Tsinghua Tongfang Wision Technology Co., Ltd., Secretary of the Party Committee of Tsinghua Holdings Co., Ltd., and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Zhejiang Tsinghua Yangtze River Delta Research Institute. After Hu Jintao stepped down at the 18th National Congress of CCP and Xi Jinping took office, Hu Haifeng entered the political arena in May 2013 as the Deputy Secretary of the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee in Zhejiang Province. In March 2014, he also took on the role of Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, and in March 2016, he became the Mayor of Jiaxing. In July 2018, he was promoted to the Secretary of the LiShui Municipal Party Committee in Zhejiang Province. In January 2024, he was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Affairs as the Deputy Minister. Throughout his nearly six-year tenure in LiShui, there were rumors circulating about potential promotions to positions of substantive power at the vice-ministerial level in Fujian, as Mayor of Dalian, Mayor of Qingdao, Secretary of the Taizhou Municipal Party Committee, and Secretary of the Xi’an Municipal Party Committee. However, those promotion speculations never materialized until he assumed the role of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in January 2024.
In the past year, there have been frequent high-level personnel changes at the Ministry of Civil Affairs. In November 2025, following the downfall of Fang Hongwei, the Secretary of the Xi’an Municipal Party Committee, rumors circulated on the X platform that Hu Haifeng would take over as Standing Committee Member of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Xi’an Municipal Party Committee. From 2026 to the present, several self-media accounts on the X platform have successively reported rumors that Hu Haifeng would be promoted to Standing Committee Member of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee, Standing Committee Member of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee, and Secretary of the Lanzhou Municipal Party Committee, and Deputy Secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee. However, the rumors of Hu Haifeng’s promotion have yet to come true.
At the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the CCP on October 22, 2022, former CCP leader Hu Jintao was forcibly removed from the venue in front of the public eye. Subsequently, Sina Weibo fully restricted discussions related to Hu Jintao and Hu Haifeng, who served as a delegate to the 20th National Congress of the CCP.
Following the 3rd Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP in July 2024, rumors about the health and power crisis of CCP leader Xi Jinping continued to circulate. At the same time, high-profile figures associated with the Youth League, such as Hu Chunhua and Hu Haifeng, attracted external attention.
The Lujiazui Forum took place on June 18, 2025, in Shanghai, with the attendance of several key officials including Chen Jinlong, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Wang Jiang, Deputy Director in charge of daily work at the Central Financial Office, Wu Qing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Gong Zheng, Mayor of Shanghai, and Hu Haifeng, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Among these officials, Chen Jinlong is a Deputy National Level, while Wang Jiang, Wu Qing, and Gong Zheng hold the rank of Ministerial Level, with Hu Haifeng being at the Deputy Ministerial Level.
Subsequently, before the Beidaihe Conference in 2025, rumors of a “significant figure passing away” circulated online at the end of June and early July. Some self-media outlets claimed that “Hu Jintao is critically ill, and his daughter-in-law and grandson have rushed from Shanghai to Beijing,” “Hu Jintao is on his deathbed, and his family has all hastened to the Beijing 301 Hospital,” and “Hu Haifeng goes to work during the day and spends his evenings at the hospital looking after his father.” Another self-media interpretation suggested that the rumor of “Hu Jintao being critically ill” was deliberately spread by the Xi faction’s powerful external propaganda efforts to influence the military’s morale.
Shortly thereafter, from July 7 to 9, 2025, the 10th National Work Conference on Paired Assistance to Xinjiang was held in Hotan, Xinjiang. The CCTV broadcast at the time showed Hu Haifeng participating in the conference.
Two months later, on September 23, 2025, the Turkish Embassy in China posted a message on its official Weibo, X platform, and Facebook accounts stating that Ambassador Selçuk Ünal made a courtesy call on Deputy Minister Hu Haifeng of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the CCP, during which “both sides exchanged views on developing cooperation between the two countries.” The post included photos of Ambassador Ünal visiting Hu Haifeng’s office and presenting him with gifts.
On the eve of the Beidaihe Conference in 2026, on July 31, rumors of a shocking incident involving Hu Jintao, his wife Liu Yongqing, and their son Hu Haifeng allegedly “dying from poisoning” once again attracted external attention. Questions were raised regarding the authenticity of the disclosure, the identity of the whistleblower, and the motivation behind the disclosure.
On August 7, 2026, opinion writer Cai Shunkun expressed on self-media that a major drama is set to unfold after the conclusion of the Beidaihe retreat. On August 17, 2026, Beijing will host the 100th anniversary celebration of the birth of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, and all current and former State Council members will attend the event and publicly disclose the guest list. Speculations continue regarding the health of the hidden figure Hu Jintao – whether he is truly gravely ill as rumored or still “manipulating the situation from behind the scenes.” Additionally, questions linger over whether Wang Qishan, rumored to be under “soft detention,” will make a public appearance. The true health status and political situation of these figures are set to be revealed on that day.