The fifth plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has included the education system in its rectification targets. Following this, high-ranking officials in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Ministry of Education, including Deputy Director Yang Yu of the Education Supervision Bureau, have been investigated one after another. At the same time, there has been a flurry of personnel changes among top officials in universities.
After the 20th National Congress of the CCP, Xi Jinping, the Party leader, assigned Deputy Prime Minister of the State Council, Ding Xuexiang, to oversee education and vigorously promote compulsory ideological education in what is known as “thought politics” to brainwash students. Meanwhile, schools have been conducting mandatory physical examinations for students and requiring them to declare organ donation, with reports of frequent disappearances of young people.
The fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was held from January 12 to 14, 2026. Following the conclusion of the meeting on January 14, the CCP’s official media Xinhua News Agency released the meeting communique.
The communique outlined specific anti-corruption requirements for 2026, continuing to crack down on corruption in areas such as finance, state-owned enterprises, energy, education, associations, development zones, and bidding and tendering. It aims to investigate issues regarding the collusion between politics and business, as well as the infiltration of capital into the political domain.
Compared to the fourth plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in January 2025, the communique of the fifth plenary session has removed “firefighting, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, universities, and construction projects” from the rectification targets and added “education and associations.”
This indicates that in addition to the ongoing cleansing in the financial, state-owned enterprise, and energy sectors, education and associations have become new key targets for cleansing. The cleansing in the education sector has expanded from universities to the entire education system.
On the day following the conclusion of the plenary session, January 14, 2026, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published interviews with some high-ranking officials present at the meeting. It emphasized the need to maintain an unyielding high-pressure situation and a stance of “fighting corruption whenever it is found, investigating greed, and eliminating evil to the fullest.” Wang Chengwen, a member of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the head of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group stationed at the Ministry of Education, stated his commitment to anti-corruption efforts in the education system by emphasizing the need for swift investigation and severe punishment, as well as deepening reform and rectification.
On the same day as the conclusion of the fifth plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, January 14, 2026, Yang Yu, Deputy Director of the Education Supervision Bureau of the CCP’s Ministry of Education, was officially announced to have been investigated.
Yang Yu had served in various positions at the Ministry of Education of the CCP, including Deputy Director of the Financial Department, Director of the Special Inspection Department of the Education Supervision Office, and Deputy Director of the Office of the State Council Education Supervision Committee.
On January 15, 2026, the former President of Tianjin University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Jin Donghan, was relieved of his duties as a deputy to the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress, and his name was removed from the list of academics at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. From July 2015 to September 2017, Jin Donghan served as the President of Shanghai University, from September 2017 to May 2019 as the Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Shanghai University, and from May 2019 to January 2025 as the President (Deputy Ministerial Level) and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Tianjin University.
Furthermore, Wang Yonglin, a former deputy department-level official at the Guizhou Southern Ethnic Minority Teachers College of Advanced Vocational Studies, was investigated on January 15, 2026.
Zhang Chunfu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Vice Chairman of the Changzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Jiangsu Province, was investigated on January 17, 2026. Zhang Chunfu had previously served as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office (Party Office, University Office) at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Minister of the Party Committee Organization Department and United Front Work Department, as well as Deputy Secretary and Vice President of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
According to information publicly available on the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in 2025, a total of 44 provincial and higher-level leaders in universities nationwide were investigated, involving prestigious institutions such as Peking University, Central South University, and China University of Mining and Technology, ranging from centrally-administered universities to local institutions, and from party secretaries and presidents to deputy positions. This includes the arrest of Ren Yuzhong, Vice President of Peking University, on September 17, 2025; the investigation of Zhang Yaoxue, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former President of Central South University, on October 17, 2025; and the arrest of Guo Xueyi, member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Central South University, on December 27, 2025.
Amidst the heightened cleansing of the educational system by the CCP, around the turn of the New Year in 2026, there has been a wave of personnel changes among high-ranking officials in university party and government leadership.
On January 12, 2026, the Party Secretary and President of China University of Mining and Technology were replaced; Zhao Hongwei was promoted to Party Secretary, and Zhang Jixiong was promoted to President.
In December 2025, Ma Huaidi, President of China University of Political Science and Law, was appointed as President of Renmin University of China (Deputy Ministerial Level); Hu Wenping, Executive Vice President of Tianjin University, was appointed as President of Xiamen University (Deputy Ministerial Level); An Shi, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Party and Vice Secretary of Harbin Institute of Technology, was appointed as Secretary of the Party Committee of Central South University (Deputy Ministerial Level); Wang Hongzhou, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Ocean University, was transferred to Secretary of the Party Committee of East China University of Political Science and Law; Ma Yugang, Vice President of Fudan University, was appointed as President of East China Normal University; and Meng Zhongjie, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of East China Normal University, was appointed as President of Shanghai International Studies University.
In November 2025, Li Zhongjun, Secretary of the Party Committee of Northeast Normal University, was transferred and appointed as Secretary of the Party Committee of Shandong University (Deputy Ministerial Level); Liu Changsheng, President of Shanghai University, was appointed as President of Chongqing University (Deputy Ministerial Level); and Liu Chenggong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Donghua University, was appointed as Secretary of the Party Committee of Sun Yat-sen University (Deputy Ministerial Level).
Since assuming leadership of the CCP, Xi Jinping has placed two Vice Premier ladies, Liu Yandong and Sun Chunlan, in charge of the education system.
At the 20th National Congress of the CCP, Ding Xuexiang, the former Director of the General Office of the CCP Central Committee, became a member of the Political Bureau and subsequently assumed the position of Executive Vice Premier of the State Council. In addition to his customary responsibilities for economic planning, finance, and taxation, he is also in charge of science and technology and education, overseeing departments such as the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Ding Xuexiang, a native of Nantong, Jiangsu Province, began his career in Shanghai. When Xi Jinping briefly served as the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee in 2007, Ding Xuexiang was promoted to Standing Committee Member of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Secretary-General, serving as Xi’s chief aide.
After Xi Jinping took office at the 18th National Congress of the CCP, Ding Xuexiang joined Xi in May 2013 and served as Deputy Director of the General Office and Director of the Secretariat of the General Secretary. He was promoted to a member of the Political Bureau at the 19th National Congress and became Xi’s chief of staff, overseeing the General Office.
Following Xi Jinping’s unprecedented re-election at the 20th National Congress, he tasked his trusted aide Ding Xuexiang with overseeing education, which has been criticized for intensifying compulsory brainwashing and ideological control of students.
Shortly after Ding Xuexiang took charge of education, during the Chinese National College Entrance Exam (Gaokao) in 2023, the Chinese Ministry of Education included “Xi Jinping’s Quotations” as an essay topic in the Chinese language exam, sparking controversy.
Public reports indicate that on May 11, 2024, a meeting to promote the construction of “thought politics” courses in schools in the so-called new era was held in Beijing, with directives from CCP leader Xi Jinping. Ding Xuexiang attended the meeting and emphasized that establishing these courses should be a top priority in the CCP’s leadership of educational work, accelerating the construction of the curriculum and textbook system with “Xi Jinping Thought” at its core.
From December 19 to 20, 2024, the national conference on the construction of party organizations in universities was held in Beijing, where Ding Xuexiang attended and emphasized the importance of adhering to the political nature of education and advancing the construction of “thought politics” courses.
Since Ding Xuexiang took charge of education, chaos within the Chinese education system has escalated. Incidents of severe bullying in Chinese schools have been frequent, and even violent incidents have occurred.
On May 14, 2024, the Chinese Ministry of Education announced the initiation of the so-called “Regulatory Management Year” for basic education. The document listed 12 prohibited behaviors, with the first being “prohibition of anti-Party, anti-socialism, demeaning the Party and country, vilifying Party and state leaders or heroes and models, and splittism.” The remaining parts of the list highlighted regular campus safety and the prohibition of bullying.
In 2023, the Chinese authorities promoted pre-packaged and potentially additive-laden pre-prepared meals in high schools nationwide, sparking strong backlash from parents and students.
On December 14, 2023, the State Council of China issued the revised “Regulations on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation,” which officially came into effect on May 1, 2024. After the promulgation of these regulations, schools began conducting “Red Cross volunteer declaration registrations,” and even allowing primary school students to declare organ donation.
Since the introduction of “organ donation” into major high schools, schools have been conducting mandatory student physical examinations, reports of young people disappearing have emerged, and there have also been cases of “brain death” organ donors. Questions have been raised by the public about young people being treated as “organ mines,” with campuses possibly turning into organ supply warehouses.