After the end of the “National Day” holiday on the first working day, October 8, 2026, the official Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency reported that Fan Bo, a member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee, was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee; Bian Xuewen, a member of the Standing Committee of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee, was transferred to the Jiangsu Provincial Committee as a member of the Standing Committee and Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee.
It is worth noting that Jiangsu is the hometown of the former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin; the political landscape of Jiangsu is connected to many national-level officials from the Jiang and Xi factions. The newly appointed Deputy Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, Fan Bo, is a former colleague of former Premier Wen Jiabao (For more details, see: Li Yanming: Former staff member of Wen Jiabao promoted to Deputy Secretary of Jiangsu). The new Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission, Bian Xuewen, is a longtime associate of the veteran leaders Wen Jiabao and Li Ruihuan from Tianjin, who were involved in investigating political adversaries of Wen Jiabao, such as Chen Liangyu and Zhou Yongkang.
The political reshuffling in Jiangsu just before the Fifth Plenum of the Central Committee and the signals of cleansing it reflects raise intriguing questions about the top-level personnel movements and the messages being sent.
According to his public resume, Bian Xuewen, a Tianjin native born in December 1972, obtained a bachelor’s degree in law from China University of Political Science and Law and a master’s degree in law from Nankai University. Bian Xuewen is a fellow townsman of veteran leaders Wen Jiabao and Li Ruihuan. Li Ruihuan had a long-standing political career in Tianjin.
During his 21-year tenure in the Tianjin Procuratorate system from 1996 to 2017, Bian Xuewen held various positions including Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Second Division of Tianjin City Procuratorate, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the First Division of Tianjin City Procuratorate, and Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Tianjin City Procuratorate.
During his time at the Second Division of the Tianjin City Procuratorate, Bian Xuewen served as a key member of a special task force and participated in the prosecution and investigation of Chen Liangyu, a former member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee.
Chen Liangyu was a close confidant of Jiang Zemin in Shanghai and was promoted to the Politburo at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2002, replacing Huang Ju as the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. Jiang Zemin, Huang Ju, and Chen Liangyu were known as the “Iron Triangle” of the Shanghai Gang. Reports at the time suggested that after the 16th National Congress, Jiang Zemin intended to groom Chen Liangyu as his successor to replace Hu Jintao.
After Wen Jiabao took office as Premier in 2003 and carried out macroeconomic controls to curb overheating in the economy, he faced resistance from the Shanghai Gang led by Jiang Zemin. In July 2004, Singapore’s English newspaper The Straits Times reported that Chen Liangyu, then Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, criticized Premier Wen Jiabao during a Politburo meeting, warning Wen Jiabao that if he persisted in implementing controls, he would have to bear the “political responsibility” for the economic damage caused. Analysts at the time believed that the power struggle between Hu-Wen and Jiang Zemin’s Shanghai Gang intensified.
On September 24, 2006, Chen Liangyu was arrested upon his arrival in Beijing to attend a meeting of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and was subsequently officially sacked. On March 25, 2008, the Tianjin Second Intermediate People’s Court began the trial of Chen Liangyu. On April 11, 2008, Chen Liangyu was sentenced to 18 years in prison for bribery and abuse of power.
Tianjin media reported that during the investigation of the Chen Liangyu case, Bian Xuewen and the members of a special task force conducted in-depth studies on over 40 key and difficult issues in the case, revisited three main witnesses for reconfirmation and video recording, ultimately compiling more than a hundred thousand words of evidence for the court hearing.
Two months before the trial of the Chen Liangyu case, in January 2008, Bian Xuewen was promoted from an assistant prosecutor at the deputy division level to Deputy Director of the Public Prosecution Department, becoming the youngest deputy-level cadre in the Tianjin procuratorate at that time.
In July 2014, Bian Xuewen was promoted to Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Second Division of the Tianjin Procuratorate; in January 2015, he was transferred to Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the First Division of the Tianjin Procuratorate. Two months later, as the “chief prosecutor,” Bian Xuewen participated in handling the case of Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
On June 11, 2015, the Tianjin First Intermediate People’s Court passed a first-instance judgment on Zhou Yongkang’s bribery, abuse of power, and intentional disclosure of state secrets, sentencing him to life imprisonment.
Two months after Zhou Yongkang was sentenced, in August 2015, Bian Xuewen was promoted by two ranks to become Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Tianjin Procuratorate.
Following the outbreak of the Chongqing incident in 2012, the conspiracy involving Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang was exposed. Bo Xilai was removed from his position as Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee on March 15, 2012, and then officially investigated on April 10, 2012; he was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2013. On July 29, 2014, Zhou Yongkang was officially placed under investigation.
Wen Jiabao was a major force in the investigation of Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang. Prior reports from Epoch Times mentioned that after the decision to remove Bo Xilai from office was made by senior officials in Beijing in March 2012, Wen Jiabao insisted on the removal of Bo Xilai for investigation. At a expanded Politburo meeting in early May 2012, Wen Jiabao engaged in a fierce public battle with Zhou Yongkang; Wen Jiabao continued to question Zhou Yongkang regarding Bo Xilai’s case and requested an investigation into Zhou Yongkang.
Before and after Zhou Yongkang’s fall from power, prominent Hong Kong figure Wu Kangmin, who had close ties to Wen Jiabao, made repeated comments suggesting that Jiang Zemin was behind Zhou Yongkang.
During Wang Qishan’s tenure as Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in May 2017 Bian Xuewen was promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection. After the 19th National Congress of the CPC, Bian Xuewen was transferred in June 2020 to serve as the Director of the Cases Review Office of the National Supervisory Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, being promoted to the level of deputy minister.
In March 2024, Bian Xuewen was parachuted into Heilongjiang Province as a member of the Standing Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission; subsequently, a cleansing storm swept through Heilongjiang. According to the official website of the Heilongjiang Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, from the end of March 2024 to the end of September 2026, over 240 officials in Heilongjiang Province were investigated; this included several high-ranking executives and officials within the forestry system, such as those from the Longjiang Forestry Group, a stronghold of Jiang Zeming’s niece, Jiang Zehui (For more details, see: Longjiang Forestry Group case: Former Chairman Li Kun under investigation).
Moreover, after the removal of Ma Xingrui from the position of Secretary of the Xinjiang Provincial Party Committee in July 2025, and his subsequent downfall in April 2026, there was a concentrated removal of officials in his hometown of Shuangyashan City in Heilongjiang Province. Ma Xingrui was a member of Xi Jinping’s faction and was promoted by the Shandong Gang of Xi Jinping’s faction. Is Bian Xuewen’s transfer to Heilongjiang Province as Secretary of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission related to Ma Xingrui’s downfall? These behind-the-scenes speculations are intriguing (For more details, see: Connection between Ma Xingrui’s removal and the cleansing of officials in his hometown).
Jiangsu is a politically sensitive region within the Chinese Communist Party. Jiangsu Province is the hometown of former Chinese Communist Party leaders Jiang Zemin and former Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang; the current member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, Ding Xuexiang, and the current State Councilor and Secretary-General of the State Council, Wu Zhenglong, are also from Jiangsu. Furthermore, the current member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Premier of the State Council, Li Keqiang, and the current member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of the Organization Department, Shi Taifeng, have previously held key positions in Jiangsu.
The predecessor of Bian Xuewen, the former Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, Zhang Zhong, was promoted to Executive Committee Member and Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission on August 22, 2026.
Zhang Zhong is a fellow townsman of Peng Liyuan from Shandong, a former colleague of Wang Qishan in Beijing; and a former colleague of members of the Youth League faction, Li Yuanchao and Shen Yueyue, in the Organization Department. In July 2023, Zhang Zhong, Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, was transferred across provinces to become the Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. During Zhang Zhong’s three-year tenure from July 2023 to August 2026 as Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, approximately 380 officials were reported to have fallen in Jiangsu Province on the official website of the Jiangsu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, including a large number of officials from Yangzhou, the hometown of Jiang Zemin, officials from the city of Nantong where Political Bureau member Ding Xuexiang hails from, and officials from Nanjing, the hometown of State Councilor Wu Zhenglong.
Shortly after Zhang Zhong’s promotion, on August 31, 2026, Liu Jianyang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Minister of the Organization Department, was removed from office. Liu Jianyang had close ties with the Jiangxi faction of Zeng Qinghong, the Fujian faction of the Xi family army, and the Jiangsu faction of the Jiang Zemin’s camp (For more details, see: Li Yanming: Zhang Zhong cleanses Jiangsu political arena and promotes to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Background Analysis).
After the 18th National Congress of the CPC, there was a targeted cleansing of the Jiangsu faction, including the successive downfall of high-ranking officials at the provincial and ministerial levels, such as Mayor Ji Jianye of Nanjing, Secretary of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee Yang Weize, and former member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary-General Zhao Shaolin.
The political landscape in Jiangsu, intertwined with the forces of the New and Old Shanghai factions, is under deep scrutiny. The timing of the political upheaval in Jiangsu just before the Fifth Plenum indicates that Liu Jianyang, who has backgrounds in the Jiang faction and the Xi family army, fell from grace, while Zhang Zhong, in charge of cleansing the Jiangsu political arena, was promoted, and the close relationship of Fan Bo and Bian Xuewen, who have close ties to Wen Jiabao, being appointed to key positions as Deputy Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Disciplinary Commission, respectively, shows that Jiangsu has once again become a focal point of high-level infighting within the Chinese Communist Party.
Bian Xuewen, who has been involved in investigating top-ranking officials from the Jiang faction like Chen Liangyu and from the oil faction like Zhou Yongkang, and in cleansing officials related to Ma Xingrui, a high-ranking official from Xi Jinping’s Shandong faction, since his appointment as Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, raises speculation whether there will be other top-ranking officials from the Jiangsu faction targeted for cleansing.
As the crucial moment of personnel struggles approaches the 21st National Congress of the CPC, the tremors in the Jiangsu political arena raise questions about the impact on the future careers of senior officials from Jiangsu, including those from Jiangsu like Li Keqiang, Ding Xuexiang, and Wu Zhenglong, which requires further observation.
(Originally published by Epoch Times, October 9, 2026)