On January 4, 2026, Lu Jie, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Shandong Provincial Government and a member of the office party group, was placed under investigation while in office. Lu Jie had been promoted by former Shandong governors Guo Shuqing and Li Ganjie. Four months ago, there were rumors of Guo Shuqing being investigated. Li Ganjie has been facing high-risk signals in his career over the past year, with his former subordinates in Shandong and the former chief being successively brought down.
The recently investigated Lu Jie was born in October 1965 and had long served in the Shandong Provincial Government office, holding positions such as Deputy Director of the Shandong Provincial Government office and Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Government after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). He worked under four Shandong governors: Guo Shuqing (from March 2013 to February 2017), Gong Zheng (from April 2017 to April 2020), Li Ganjie (from April 2020 to September 2021), and Zhou Naixiang (from September 2021 to present).
During Guo Shuqing’s tenure as Shandong governor, Lu Jie was promoted to Deputy Director of the Shandong Provincial Government office in May 2015 and further elevated to Deputy Secretary-General of the Shandong Provincial Government in November 2016.
While Li Ganjie served as Shandong governor, Lu Jie also concurrently held the position of director of the Shandong Provincial Administration of Organs since May 2021.
In January 2024, Lu Jie stepped down as director of the Shandong Provincial Administration of Organs but continued to serve as Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Government and member of the office party group. Two years later, he was investigated while in office.
Guo Shuqing, who previously served as Chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and Secretary of the Communist Party Committee of the People’s Bank of China, is currently a Vice Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress.
In August 2025, rumors circulated about Guo Shuqing being investigated, which he later publicly refuted. However, his true situation is still being questioned by the public.
In August last year, commentator Cai Shenkun, who resides in the United States, revealed in his social media program a significant news from the financial industry about the troubles facing Guo Shuqing, a close aide of Zhu Rongji and Wang Qishan.
On the same day, Wu Guoguang, a core member of the advisory team of former CCP General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, commented on a platform, “Media observation: strange! Rumors about Guo Shuqing and Liu Jianchao being taken away appeared simultaneously, but only Liu’s incident was spread on overseas social media, even reaching mainstream English media, while there was no trace of Guo’s situation.”
Subsequently, on August 28, 2025, the official Chinese news website reported on the 75th anniversary celebration of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Switzerland and the presentation of the 2025 Sino-Swiss Business Awards. During the event on August 27 in Beijing, Andreas Caroni, President of the Swiss Federal Council, and Guo Shuqing, Vice Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress, attended, along with business representatives from China and Switzerland.
However, the news site only covered speeches by Caroni and Chinese business representative Zhang Zhiqiang, with no mention of Guo Shuqing, who was originally scheduled to speak before Zhang Zhiqiang.
Previously, a former official from Inner Mongolia, Du Wen, who had predicted the downfall of Inner Mongolia Governor Wang Lixia in advance, posted on a platform on September 1, 2025, stating based on inside information from the CCP’s system: Guo Shuqing, originally from Wulanchabu, Inner Mongolia, former Secretary of the Communist Party Committee of the Central Bank, and current Vice Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, has been confirmed to be under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The situation looks grim, and an announcement is expected soon. There are many rumors surrounding his case, but few are credible. The verification and analysis process is ongoing. If his downfall is confirmed, he will be the first head of the central bank to fall from power since the establishment of the CCP.
Another former leader of Lu Jie, Li Ganjie, rose to become a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC’s 20th Central Committee and Secretary of the Central Secretariat. He later succeeded his Tsinghua University classmate Chen Xi as Minister of the Organization Department. In early April 2025, Li Ganjie unusually transitioned from Minister of the Organization Department to Minister of the United Front Work Department.
Following Li Ganjie’s job change, several high-ranking officials within the Organization Department were either reassigned or investigated; prominent officials from Li Ganjie’s hometown in Hunan also faced investigations one after the other.
The political landscape in Shandong, where Li Ganjie once governed, has also been continuously cleansed. Officials in Shandong who were promoted and trusted by Li Ganjie have been falling one after another, including Shiyin Yan, a proactive member of the Shandong Provincial Government, and Li Wei Bo, Deputy Director of the Jinan Central Business District Management Commission. The Jinan Central Business District was a major achievement during Li Ganjie’s tenure in Shandong. Shiyin Yan served as Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Shandong Health Committee, Director of the Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Administration, and was transferred to a consultant of the Shandong Provincial Government in August 2022.
In addition to Lu Jie, the recently investigated Deputy Secretary-General of the Shandong Provincial Government, another top official under Li Ganjie, Hui Xin’an, was placed under investigation two months ago.
On October 16, 2025, Hui Xin’an, a member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial People’s Congress, was investigated. Hui Xin’an had previously served as Deputy Executive Minister of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, Secretary of the Weifang City Party Committee, and from January 2022 to January 2023, served as Secretary-General of the Shandong Provincial People’s Congress, overseeing the Party Committee Secretariat and the Institution of the People’s Congress, under the leadership of Li Ganjie, Secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Party Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress.