On April 3rd, Ma Xingrui, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, was officially announced to have been taken down from his position. Speculation surrounding his downfall has sparked various opinions, including his involvement in the military industry system, corruption in Guangdong and Xinjiang government circles, among others. Recent attention has been drawn back to early revelations by Xu Jiayin exposing Ma Xingrui. Analysts suggest that Xu Jiayin may have played a role in sending Ma Xingrui and other high-ranking officials to prison.
Independent commentator Xiangyang posted on X platform on April 5th, questioning the implications of being an official in China. A “workshop director” managed to send numerous officials of ministerial rank and members of the Political Bureau to prison, even leading to some of their deaths.
The “workshop director” mentioned refers to Xu Jiayin, who was previously a workshop director at the Wenfeng Steel Plant in Pingdingshan, Henan before rising to prominence.
In 2021, Evergrande Group’s debt crisis erupted, and in September 2023, Xu Jiayin was placed under “residential surveillance at a designated location” by the police. Before and after this, several high-ranking officials, including former Guizhou Communist Party Secretary Sun Zhigang, former Chairman of Everbright Group Li Xiaopeng, former President of Bank of China Liu Liange, former Governor of Liaoning Province Tang Yijun, and former Communist Party Secretary of Hubei Province Jiang Chaoliang, were implicated and exposed by mainland Chinese media for their close links to Xu Jiayin.
Xiangyang stated that as of March 2025, a report from the Supreme Procuratorate showed that 42 individuals from the Evergrande group had been prosecuted, but Xu’s case was treated separately due to the complexity of the extensive network of interests involved. Ren Xuefeng, who had been appointed as Secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee in August 2014, deliberately kept his distance from Xu Jiayin, never doing business with Evergrande, as he was well aware of Xu’s character and knew the risks involved. Consequently, Xu Jiayin sought refuge with Ma Xingrui, who was then Deputy Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee.
Regarding Xu Jiayin seeking shelter with Ma Xingrui, independent commentator Du Zheng had already exposed related information on July 27, 2025, in the Taiwanese media “Shang Bao,” revealing that Xu Jiayin’s case had implicated Ma Xingrui.
In July 2025, Ma Xingrui stepped down as Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Du Zheng cited rumors in the Guangzhou official circle at the time, indicating that the root of Ma Xingrui’s problem lay in Guangdong. There were rumors circulating at banquets in the area that after Xu Jiayin, the boss of Evergrande, lost his freedom in September 2023, he divulged a long list of high-ranking officials, including Ma Xingrui, to the authorities.
On November 4, 2015, Ma Xingrui, then Deputy Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, met with Xu Jiayin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Evergrande. It was reported that with Ma Xingrui’s support, Evergrande quietly relocated its headquarters from Guangzhou to Shenzhen over the next year. Xu Jiayin provided significant benefits to Ma Xingrui as a “patron.”
Du Zheng disclosed that when Ren Xuefeng, who was appointed as Secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee in August 2014, did not appreciate Xu Jiayin’s ways and kept his distance. However, after Evergrande secretly moved its headquarters from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, Ren Xuefen became furious and instructed the organizational department to discipline a large number of negligent officials from the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce. Shortly afterward, Ren Xuefen was marginalized, appointed as Deputy Secretary of Chongqing, and in late October 2019, he committed suicide by jumping from Beijing’s Jingxi Guesthouse during the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee, officially declared as “passed away due to ineffective medical treatment.”
Once Ma Xingrui rose to become the Governor of Guangdong Province, Evergrande expanded its cooperation with the Guangzhou Municipal Government on June 11, 2019, bringing Guangzhou Municipal Party Secretary Zhang Shuofu and Deputy Governor Zhang Hu to support Xu Jiayin. According to the agreement, Evergrande would heavily invest in the new energy automobile industry in Guangzhou.
After Xu Jiayin’s arrest, numerous secrets of the Evergrande empire came to light, with one of the most intriguing being the Evergrande beauty dance troupe. Xu Jiayin was rumored to have a mysterious “42nd floor” at the Evergrande Shenzhen headquarters, allegedly used for power and influence exchanges.
Du Zheng stated that politicians and business magnates associated with Xu Jiayin are likely to have been implicated by him. According to the standards of the CCP, Xu Jiayin is considered one of the most loyal private entrepreneurs. In August 2002, Evergrande became the first private enterprise party committee in Guangzhou, with Xu Jiayin personally serving as the party secretary. Xu Jiayin sought to align the enterprise with the party, but ultimately ended up behind bars as a result. He is expected to provide a long list of high-ranking officials to secure his own survival, and the subsequent downfall or demotion of more surprising figures may be related to Xu Jiayin.
Previously, Ma Xingrui’s main supporter was said to be the wife of Xi Jinping, Peng Liyuan, indicating a close relationship between Peng Liyuan and Ma Xingrui. Henghe River, a journalist with The Epoch Times, pointed out in a recent news analysis article that the rise of Evergrande coincided with Ma Xingrui’s leadership in Shenzhen and Guangdong Province. The real estate industry, based on bidding for land, must have been closely tied to local government and its key officials in terms of interests and influence. This occurrence was not a mere possibility but a certainty due to the system’s design. Every step of Ma Xingrui’s career bore the shadow of Xi Jinping, making Ma Xingrui’s failure synonymous with Xi Jinping’s failure.