Last December, in Sunshi Kiln Village, Nanzhai Town, Huixian City, Henan Province, the village secretary resorted to finding individuals with intellectual disabilities to fill positions to avoid being subjected to “height restrictions” after the village was ordered to pay 781,000 yuan by the court. This unusual action drew attention online. On January 7th, official reports confirmed that 11 individuals involved in the case have been held accountable.
According to the announcement on the official website of Xinxiang City Government in Henan Province, the “Sunshi Kiln Village Proxy Case” is essentially true.
In June 2024, due to Sunshi Kiln Village’s failure to fully comply with the court’s judgment in a debt dispute, the Huixian City Court planned to impose height restriction measures on the then party branch secretary and legal representative of the village, Tie Tuo.
To avoid being subject to “height restrictions,” Tie Tuo sought help from Shi Hongbiao, the then deputy secretary of the town party committee and town mayor. Shi Hongbiao consulted with Wei Xintao, the then director of the enforcement bureau of the Huixian City Court, to devise a way to circumvent the measures.
Subsequently, Shi Hongbiao arranged for Zhang Dazhi, a level-one staff member of the town party and government office, to use a different document number to create a fake document that dismissed Tie Tuo as the party branch secretary of Sunshi Kiln Village and appointed Guo Heihu, a villager in the village with a second-level intellectual disability and a non-Communist Party member, as the new party branch secretary. Zhu Xinchang, the enforcement handler from the Huixian City Court, implemented height restrictions on Guo Heihu based on the forged document on July 11, 2024.
The report stated that the relevant units and 11 responsible individuals have been held accountable, including Li Jiyu, the secretary of the Huixian City Committee, Han Zhongyuan, a member of the Huixian City Committee and Minister of the Organization Department, Zhang Jinzhao, a member of the Huixian City Committee, Minister of the Propaganda Department, and member of the Party Group of the Municipal Government (then Deputy Secretary of the South Zhai Town Party Committee), Shi Hongbiao, Deputy Minister of the United Front Department of the Huixian City Committee, Secretary of the Party Group of the Industrial and Commercial Federation (then Deputy Secretary of the South Zhai Town Party Committee and Mayor), Liu Yingmin, Secretary of the Communist Youth League Committee of the Huixian City Committee (then Deputy Secretary of the South Zhai Town Party Committee), Wang Quanfang, Director of South Zhai Town Party and Government Office, Zhang Dazhi, a level-one staff member of the South Zhai Town Party and Government Office, Tie Tuo, the then party branch secretary of Sunshi Kiln Village, Liu Zhifei, member of the Party Group and Deputy Director of the Xinxiang Intermediate People’s Court (then Secretary of the Party Group and President of the Huixian City Court), Wei Xintao, member of the Party Group of the Huixian City Court, Director of the Enforcement Bureau, and Zhu Xinchang, enforcement handler of the Huixian City Court.
Among these 11 individuals, except for Zhang Jinzhao, Shi Hongbiao, and Wei Xintao, who were dismissed from their duties, the others have been subject to measures such as “criticism and education,” “warning,” and “party probation.”