After three years of retirement, Yue Puyu, former deputy director of the Shanxi Provincial People’s Congress, has come under investigation, becoming another senior Shanxi provincial official to fall from grace in the past two years following Shanxi Governor Jin Xiangjun and CPPCC Chairman Wu Cunrong.
Yue Puyu had long served as the general manager and chairman of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery (Group) Co., Ltd. Five years ago, seven department-level executives of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group were successively investigated within six months, all of whom were former subordinates of Yue Puyu.
On the evening of March 30, 2026, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission announced that Yue Puyu, former party group member and deputy director of the Shanxi Provincial People’s Congress, is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law”.
Yue Puyu, born in October 1959 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, worked at Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Factory after graduating from Taiyuan Heavy Machinery College in 1982. He rose through the ranks to become the director of the Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Design Institute in 1996. In 2000, he started as the vice general manager of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery (Group) Co., Ltd., and later served as the chairman and party secretary of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery in 2002, and was promoted to the general manager of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group in 2003. In 2009, Yue Puyu became the chairman and party secretary of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group.
In 2012, after working for 30 years at Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group, Yue Puyu transitioned to politics and became the deputy secretary and acting mayor of Linfen City. He later became the secretary of the Linfen City Party Committee in May 2016. In January 2018, Yue Puyu stepped down from the position of secretary of the Linfen City Party Committee as he was elected as the deputy director of the Shanxi Provincial People’s Congress. In January 2023, he resigned from that position.
According to public records, Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group, founded in 1950, formerly known as Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Factory, is a national super-large backbone enterprise of the Communist Party of China. In 2008, it became a “billion-dollar enterprise” and is China’s largest production base for lifting equipment, excavation equipment, and space launch facilities.
From October 2020 to April 2021, Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group was hit by a corruption scandal, with 7 department-level executives investigated within half a year. More than ten middle-level officials were also subsequently investigated.
The Shanxi Province Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision announced that Wang Chuangmin, vice director of the Shanxi State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and former party secretary and chairman of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group (October 12, 2020), Fan Weimin, former party committee member and director of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group (October 12, 2020), Zhang Kebin, full-time external director of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group (November 21, 2020), Du Meilin, vice general manager of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group (November 21, 2020), Cao Jisheng, former chief economist of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group (December 21, 2020), Zhang Zhide, former deputy party secretary, deputy chairman, and general manager of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group (January 18, 2021), and Wang Chunle, vice general manager of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group (April 25, 2021), were successively investigated.
The resumes of these 7 department-level executives who were investigated reveal that they all worked for Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group for decades and were subordinates of Yue Puyu during his tenure as general manager and chairman of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group from 2003 to 2012.
The head of the relevant department of the Shanxi Province Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision stated in November 2021 that the corruption case at Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group is a typical case of the intertwining of political and economic issues, as well as a case where corruption, bribery, dereliction of duty, and malfeasance are interwoven.
Yue Puyu is the third senior official in Shanxi Province to come under investigation in recent years.
On March 23, 2026, Jin Xiangjun, former deputy secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and governor, was arrested and transferred to the procuratorate for investigation and prosecution for alleged bribery, having fallen from grace while in office on April 12, 2025.
On March 20, 2026, Wu Cunrong, former party secretary and chairman of the Shanxi Provincial CPPCC, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance for bribery. Wu Cunrong was arrested while in office on December 16, 2024.
According to the information from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission citing the Shanxi Province Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, seven department-level officials in Shanxi Province have been investigated since 2026, including Zhang Jianping, former party group member and deputy director of the Shanxi Provincial Government’s office in Beijing (March 27, 2026), Wu Wensheng, party secretary of Jinxin Vocational and Technical College (March 23, 2026), He Xiangrong, member of the Standing Committee and secretary-general of the Party Committee of Shuozhou City (February 24, 2026), Meng Fugui, former director of the People’s Congress of Jincheng City (February 13, 2026), Li Quanxin, former deputy director of the People’s Congress of Changzhi City (February 13, 2026), Du Xinjian, former party committee member and vice general manager of Shanxi Jincheng Smokeless Coal Mining Group (January 19, 2026), and Qin Shuwei, deputy mayor and director of the Public Security Bureau of Changzhi City (January 8, 2026).