In a recent development, Yu Huiwen, a high-ranking Manchu official and the Deputy Minister of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, has been appointed as the Party Secretary of the Hohhot Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), breaking the tradition of having Mongolian officials in this position. This appointment has garnered attention as it marks a departure from the previous norm, but the report on this was later deleted.
According to the Inner Mongolia Daily, on December 20th, the official announcement from the Hohhot Municipal Committee stated that Bao Gang would no longer hold the positions of Party Secretary, Standing Committee Member, and Committee Member of the CCP in Hohhot, with Yu Huiwen taking over these roles.
Yu Huiwen, 57 years old, hails from the Manchu ethnic group in Liaoning. He previously served in the Liaoning Science and Technology System before transferring to Sichuan to hold positions as the Director of the Environmental Protection Department and later the Director of the Department of Ecology and Environment. In December 2019, he was transferred to Chongqing to serve as the Party Secretary of the Dazu District Committee of the CCP. He then moved on to become the Party Secretary of the Yubei District Committee of Chongqing in August 2021 and was appointed as a Standing Committee Member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee in May of the following year, concurrently serving as the Party Secretary of the Wanzhou District Committee of the CCP.
In October 2022, Yu Huiwen was elected as a candidate member of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP and later assumed the position of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in April 2024. During the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee held in October this year, Yu Huiwen was confirmed as a Central Committee member.
All three Party Secretaries of Hohhot since 2019 – Wang Lixia, Bao Gang, and Yu Huiwen – are from Liaoning, but while Wang Lixia and Bao Gang are of Mongolian descent, Yu Huiwen is a Manchu. Bao Gang, who recently stepped down from the position, was appointed as the Chairperson of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government in October this year, succeeding the disgraced Wang Lixia.
An article by Caixin on the 21st titled “Breaking the Tradition: Manchu Yu Huiwen Takes the Helm in Hohhot” highlighted Yu Huiwen’s new role and how it deviates from the long-standing practice of Mongolian officials holding the position of Party Secretary in Hohhot since the era of China’s reforms and opening up. However, the article was taken down on the 22nd.
Similarly, the CCP’s National Ethnic Affairs Commission had traditionally been led by officials from ethnic minorities since its establishment in 1954. However, after the Mongolian former director Bater stepped down at the end of 2020, the position has been held by Han officials, including Chen Xiaojiang, Pan Yue, and Chen Ruifeng.
This year has seen a wave of high-ranking minority officials in the CCP being investigated and removed from their positions. This includes Qizhala, former Chairperson of the Tibet Autonomous Region government (Tibetan, investigated on January 23, 2025), Lantianli, former Chairperson of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government (Zhuang, investigated on May 16, 2025), Liuhui, former Chairperson of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region government (Hui, investigated on July 18, 2025), and Wang Lixia, former Chairperson of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government (Mongolian, removed from office on August 22, 2025).
In 2020, the central authorities in Beijing demanded that the Inner Mongolia government implement Mandarin Chinese textbooks, leading to widespread protests. The then Chairperson of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government, Bu Xiaolin, was relieved of his duties in mid-2021 and retired early.