On Tuesday, October 8th, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officially announced that Qí Tóngshēng, former Chairman of the Ningxia Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), is under investigation. With this latest development, a total of 45 central government officials have been implicated in disciplinary violations since the beginning of this year.
In the afternoon of October 8th, the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission reported on their website that Qí Tóngshēng, former Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region CPPCC, is suspected of serious disciplinary and legal violations, and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and investigation by the central authorities.
According to his public resume, Qí Tóngshēng was born in July 1952 in Pingshan, Hebei Province. He started working in November 1968 and graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Machinery at Gansu Industrial University.
Qí Tóngshēng has had a long career in Ningxia, serving as the Director of the Ningxia Industrial Design Institute, Deputy Commander of the Ningxia Hedong Airport Construction Command, Deputy Director, and Director of the Ningxia Planning Commission.
In January 2005, Qí Tóngshēng was appointed Vice Chairman and Executive Vice Chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Government. In January 2013, he became the Chairman of the Tenth Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region CPPCC, reaching the rank of ministerial-level official. He stepped down in January 2018 and became a member of the Thirteenth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
In 2023, Qí Tóngshēng retired from his position after stepping down.
With Qí Tóngshēng’s fall from grace, the number of central government officials at the ministerial level who have been publicly announced by the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission to be under investigation and review this year has now reached 45, the same total as the whole of 2023. According to previous reports from mainland Chinese media, 2023 saw the highest number of ministerial-level officials falling from grace since the 18th National Congress of the CCP.