On the eve of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s Fifth Plenary Session, from September 8 to 20, 2026, Hu Chunhua, who was once considered a successor from the Youth League faction, made six public appearances. He also inspected Shandong, the hometowns of Peng Liyuan and Ma Xingrui, for several days and delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of an international forum held in Qingdao.
Hu Chunhua was expelled from the Politburo of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and demoted to the Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In the sensitive two years during the Third and Fourth Plenums of the 20th National Congress, amid rumors of health and power crises of the CCP leader Xi Jinping, Hu Chunhua frequently made high-profile appearances, sparking speculation.
On the eve of the Fifth Plenary Session, Hu Chunhua once again made a high-profile appearance, and the behind-the-scenes details and political signals released deserve attention.
According to reports from the CCP’s official Xinhua News Agency, the 2026 Ocean Cooperation and Development Forum opened on September 17 in Qingdao, Shandong Province. Hu Chunhua, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. In his speech, Hu Chunhua praised Xi Jinping, saying he “attaches great importance to the development of the maritime industry” and “proposed to build a maritime community of shared destiny.”
According to the official website of the National Committee of the CPPCC, from September 13 to 16, 2026, Vice Chairman Hu Chunhua led a team to inspect Yantai and Weihai in Shandong Province. Vice Chairmen of the National Committee of the CPPCC Huang Yuzhi and Jiang Xuguang, CPPCC members Guo Wei, Zhang Yan, Ma Zhenjun, Yu Benhong, Wei Jiangang, He Yixin, Qian Yuqing, Tang Junjie, Cheng Yuzhen, Wang Ling, Chen Zengjing, Lin Hai, Sun Rong, as well as relevant officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, participated in the inspection.
The Ocean Cooperation and Development Forum is a provincial-level international forum that has been integrated and upgraded from activities related to the “East Asia Ocean Cooperation Platform Qingdao Forum,” jointly sponsored by the Shandong Provincial Government and the Ministry of Natural Resources. It has been held for three sessions since 2024.
In public reports, on October 24, 2024, the 2024 Ocean Cooperation and Development Forum opened in Qingdao, with Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC Wang Yong attending the opening ceremony and delivering a speech. On September 8, 2025, the 2025 Ocean Cooperation and Development Forum opened in Qingdao, with Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC Leung Chun-ying attending the opening ceremony and delivering a speech. However, Wang Yong and Leung Chun-ying only attended the opening ceremony of the Ocean Cooperation and Development Forum on that day, with no other inspection activities in Shandong before or after.
Of note, Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan, and the fallen member of the Political Bureau, Ma Xingrui, both hail from Yuncheng, Shandong. Ma Xingrui was seen as a representative figure of the Shandong faction within the CCP; he came from the CCP’s military industry system, rose steadily after the 18th National Congress, and was said to have connections with Xi and his wife.
Ma Xingrui was removed from his position as Secretary of the Xinjiang Party Committee in July 2025 and officially fell from power on April 3, 2026.
Ma Xingrui and Hu Chunhua had worked together in the Guangdong officialdom for many years. From November 2012 to October 2017, Hu Chunhua served as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee. During that period, Ma Xingrui was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee in November 2013, and became Governor of Guangdong Province in January 2017, serving as Hu Chunhua’s deputy and partner for four years.
Around the time of Ma Xingrui’s removal and downfall, several of his associates from Xinjiang and Guangdong were intensively investigated. Additionally, since late June 2025, more than ten senior officials from Shandong at the provincial and ministerial level were successively removed from their positions, including high-ranking officials, such as former Party Secretary of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Sun Shaocheng; three high-ranking officials from Shandong were unusually removed from their positions, including the Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee Wang Zhonglin, the Director of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission Li Yunze, and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun. (For details, please see: “Senior officials at the provincial and ministerial level from Shandong are being purged, with ten people falling and three being removed from office”).
Within less than a month of Ma Xingrui’s official fall from power, at least five officials from his hometown of Heze City, Shandong Province, were removed from their positions, including Xiao Youhua, member of the Standing Committee of the Heze Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat. (For details, please see: “Officials from Ma Xingrui’s hometown Heze are being intensively investigated, with the Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee falling from power”).
As Ma Xingrui’s Shandong camp and former colleagues in Guangdong were being purged, Hu Chunhua, his former colleague, made high-profile appearances in Shandong. The stark contrast and the political signals released are thought-provoking.
According to official reports, in addition to inspecting Shandong and attending the opening ceremony of the 2026 Ocean Cooperation and Development Forum and delivering a speech, Hu Chunhua had four other public activities in the past half month.
On September 20, 2026, the Central Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC held its fourth collective study session for 2026. Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC, presided over the meeting, with Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC Hu Chunhua, members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Shen Yueyue, Wang Yong, Zhou Qiang, Bateluer, Mu Hong, Xian Hui, Jiang Xinzhi in attendance.
On September 18, 2026, the National Committee of the CPPCC held a remote consultation meeting, chaired by Wang Huning, with Hu Chunhua, Wang Yong, Zhou Qiang, Bateluer, Gao Yunlong, Wang Guangqian in attendance.
On September 11, 2026, Wang Huning met with the President of the National Assembly of Angola, Der Almeida, in Beijing; Hu Chunhua attended the meeting.
On September 8, 2026, members of the National Committee of the CPPCC visited the China Buddhist Academy for research. Wang Huning, Li Ganjie, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of the United Front Work Department, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC Hu Chunhua, Wang Yong, Bateluer, Su Hui, Mu Hong, Wang Guangqian, participated in the research.
Hu Chunhua’s recent high-profile appearances have come at a sensitive time; just a month later, the CCP will convene the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee. Over the past two years, around the Third and Fourth Plenums of the 20th Central Committee, Hu Chunhua’s high-profile appearances have drawn widespread attention and rumors have been rife.
Hu Chunhua, a prominent figure from the Youth League faction, was once considered a top candidate for the Standing Committee of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP. However, at the 20th National Congress, Xi Jinping broke with convention by standing for re-election, leaving the selection of Standing Committee members surprising to outsiders, and the Youth League faction was decimated, leading to Hu Chunhua being expelled from the Standing Committee and transferred to the vice presidency of the National Committee of the CPPCC.
Since the Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee in mid-July 2024, Xi Jinping, the leader of the CCP, has been embroiled in rumors of health and power crises, with continuous speculation. There were even rumors that Xi Jinping would step down, with Hu Chunhua entering the stage, becoming a Standing Committee member, Vice Chairman, or even rising to Vice Chairman of the Military Commission and succession.
On July 18, 2024, the Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP concluded. According to footage from CCTV, Hu Chunhua was seen sitting side by side with Xi Jinping at a subgroup meeting of the Third Plenary Session, sparking speculation.
After the Third Plenum, Hu Chunhua successively attended several high-profile domestic and diplomatic events.
From September 9 to 13, 2024, Hu Chunhua led a special inspection team from the National Committee of the CPPCC to Inner Mongolia, where he had served for an extended period.
In December 2024, Hu Chunhua uncommonly took on roles that were previously held by Vice Chairmen of the State, such as Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, traveling to Madrid, Spain to attend the “2024 Kingdom International Forum.” During the visit, he read Xi Jinping’s congratulatory message and held a collective meeting with King Felipe VI of Spain.
From April 8 to 17, 2025, Hu Chunhua led a delegation to visit Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal in Africa.
Prior to the Fourth Plenary Session in October 2025, on August 20, 2025, the CCP held an event marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Subsequently, Hu Chunhua, who served as one of the deputy leaders of the Central delegation, inspected the Yarlung Tsangpo River downstream hydropower project and the Sichuan-Tibet Railway project on August 22, 2025. Five days later, on August 27, 2025, Hu Chunhua appeared in Changchun, Jilin, attending the opening ceremony of the 15th “China-Northeast Asia Expo” and delivering a speech.
With Hu Chunhua suddenly gaining significant exposure, outside observers began to speculate. There were rumors that Hu Chunhua would be promoted to the Standing Committee during the Fourth Plenum. However, only Zhang Shenmin was promoted to Vice Chairman of the Military Commission at the Fourth Plenary Session, with no promotion to the Standing Committee as usual.
Around the time of the 20th National Congress, Xi Jinping ordered a twenty-year re-examination of the coal corruption sector in Inner Mongolia, with criticisms directed at Hu Chunhua, who had previously governed the region. Several of Hu Chunhua’s former colleagues in Inner Mongolia quickly fell from grace.
After the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee in mid-2024, amid rumors of Xi Jinping’s decline, turmoil hit the Inner Mongolian officialdom once again, with two senior members of Xi’s faction being investigated. On August 22, 2025, Wang Lixia, Chairperson of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government, fell from power. Subsequently, Sun Shaocheng, Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Party Committee, was removed from office in September 2025 and transferred to a non-leadership position of the National People’s Congress, falling from power on January 29, 2026.
Wang Lixia had long served in Xi Jinping’s hometown of Shaanxi Province and was a schoolmate of Xi’s confidant He Lifeng at Xiamen University. After Xi took office, Wang Lixia steadily rose through the ranks, serving successively as a Member of the Standing Committee of the Autonomy Region Party Committee, Minister of the United Front Work Department, and Secretary of the Hohhot Municipal Party Committee; in August 2021, she was promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairperson of the Autonomous Region Government.
Sun Shaocheng, a native of Yantai, Shandong Province, graduated from the Chinese Department of Shandong University. After Xi took office, he rose through the ranks, serving in various positions, including Member of the Standing Committee of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, Minister of the United Front Work Department, Vice Governor of Shanxi Province, Deputy Secretary and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Party Secretary and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources, Minister of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, and Party Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, among others.
As the officialdoms in Guangdong and Inner Mongolia, where Hu Chunhua once held office, were being cleansed, high-ranking members of Xi’s faction, such as Ma Xingrui, Wang Lixia, and Sun Shaocheng, fell from grace in quick succession. On the other hand, there have been no negative reports about Hu Chunhua so far, and instead, he has made numerous high-profile appearances in Shandong before the Fifth Plenary Session, inspecting Ma Xingrui and Peng Liyuan’s hometown. The power struggles within the top echelons of the CCP are intriguing.
Hu Chunhua was born in April 1963, and he is currently 63 years old; he will not reach 65 years old by the time of the 21st National Congress of the CCP next year. By comparison, Xi Jinping’s confidant He Lifeng was born in February 1955 and became Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC and continued to serve as the Director of the National Development and Reform Commission at the age of 63 in March 2018. In October 2022, at the age of 67, he was promoted to a member of the Politburo and subsequently became a Vice Premier of the State Council. Xi Jinping’s confidant Xia Baolong was born in December 1952, and he became Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the National Committee of the CPPCC at the age of 65 in March 2018. In March 2023, at the age of 70, he stepped down as Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC but continued to serve as the Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.
The current Political Bureau and Military Commission of the CCP are severely understaffed. Observers are paying attention to whether there will be elections to fill the positions of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and members of the Military Commission at the Fifth Plenary Session. Hu Chunhua has served in multiple provinces and held the position of Vice Premier of the State Council; there are no age or qualifications barriers to his return. Whether Hu Chunhua will return at the Fifth Plenary Session or the 21st National Congress and be promoted to a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau will be a crucial indicator of the power struggles within the top leadership of the CCP.