The internal purge within the Chinese Communist Party has intensified, reflected in the soaring anti-corruption data released by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Former Shanghai entrepreneur Hu Liren stated that Xi Jinping’s continued anti-corruption campaign is aimed at conducting an “intra-party Cultural Revolution” and seizing the assets of corrupt officials. There have been revelations on social media indicating that the number of arrests by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has targets set for them to achieve results. Epoch Times previously exposed that the Chinese Communist Party has been heavily involved in the “corruption economy” to address financial difficulties.
On April 23, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP announced the so-called “anti-corruption achievements” for the first quarter of this year. The number of officials at various levels, from central to local authorities, who have been disciplined or investigated has significantly increased compared to the same period last year. The number of provincial and ministerial-level officials who have been disciplined is 56 people, four times higher than the same period last year.
Hu Liren, a former Shanghai entrepreneur now residing in the United States, stated on his self-media program that high-ranking officials at the central level who are facing investigation are living in fear every day.
He explained that within the CCP, there is a Discipline Inspection Commission and an inspection team. The inspection team is responsible for “discovering problems” through audits, while the Discipline Inspection Commission is responsible for arresting officials and filing cases. The inspection team consists of temporary staff composed of some members of the Discipline Inspection Commission, as well as some officials from the Central Organization Department, and staff recalled from various ministries. The inspection team moves in and stays in relevant units for approximately two months, reviewing each official’s files and conducting interviews to find faults.
Hu Liren suggested that Xi Jinping’s creation of these inspection teams is part of his effort to promote an “intra-party Cultural Revolution” within the CCP, conducting internal clean-ups and seizing the assets of corrupt officials to make up for financial shortfalls.
According to Hu Liren, nearly all CCP officials are implicated in corrupt activities, with inspections targeting officials who are known to have amassed significant wealth. The amount of money confiscated from just one official’s corruption can range from tens of millions to billions of Chinese yuan. Particularly at the central level, the assets involved in corruption cases are usually no less than tens of millions of yuan.
Hu Liren revealed that in the past few years, officials were required to report on the extent and sources of their assets. Some officials have been transferring their assets continuously, while others have accumulated excessive wealth. The number of senior officials who have fled overseas is quite significant, but the CCP authorities do not publicly disclose the true extent of the situation.
Recently, a prominent legal blogger on Weibo shared a private message received from an informant, indicating that the Discipline Inspection Commission fabricates charges against officials to meet its “performance targets.” A person claiming to be an insider of the Commission mentioned that after investigating officials for bribery, to lessen their own and their family’s guilt, these officials would shift the blame to their subordinates. In order to meet their performance targets, the discipline organs will also hold discussions with the alleged subordinates and pressure them into admitting guilt. If the subordinates resist, the Commission will use the threat of investigation to force compliance.
These revelations from informed individuals correspond to Epoch Times’ earlier exclusive reports.
In a previous exclusive report on March 20, 2026, Epoch Times cited several insiders revealing that the number of officials detained in prisons and detention centers in some regions of China has significantly increased, with a rising involvement of corrupt officials in these cases.
According to an insider within the CCP system named Xu Yue, the initiation of a “reverse investigation mode” was observed in regions such as Zibo and Zaozhuang in Shandong, and Yuncheng in Shanxi starting from late December last year. These veteran bureaucrats were secretly detained in detention centers and subsequently swiftly transferred to prisons through expedited trials, surprising many observers.
Xu Yue expressed shock at the current situation, noting that prisons are now filled with CCP members, particularly those who were once corrupt officials. The ratio of “party inmates” far outweighs regular criminal inmates. After being sentenced, almost none of these officials appeal, indicating that they might have reached some agreement under opaque circumstances.
In Zhengzhou, Henan, a retired civil servant named Sun told reporters that investigations on bribery and retired officials are ongoing nationwide. Among the detainees in detention centers, a significantly higher proportion are involved in corrupt activities compared to regular criminal cases. Sun mentioned that a friend working in the Political and Legal Affairs Commission revealed that anti-corruption has become a primary task for public security, prosecutors, and courts, leading to widespread investigations and arrests. The prisons have essentially turned into CCP’s “party prisons,” housing mainly party members and cadres.
As China’s economy faces a downturn and financial constraints, a source knowledgeable about a regional government in Zhejiang named Tian Liang disclosed in an exclusive interview with Epoch Times in October 2024. The source revealed that the CCP has developed a “corruption economy” model to deal with financial difficulties. Since 2024, many new prisons have been built specifically to detain fallen officials, commonly referred to as “corrupt official prisons,” with each region having such facilities. Due to the drastic economic situation, the CCP adopted the absurd approach of seizing assets from corrupt officials to fill the budget gap. Furthermore, due to the party’s paranoia, the officially disclosed amounts of corruption involving officials have been significantly reduced.
Tian Liang further disclosed that an essential aspect of the “corruption economy” is to first use corrupt officials to bring down private entrepreneurs within the system and then have the Discipline Inspection Commission arrest these officials to seize their ill-gotten gains. This process forms a chain of events.
An academic familiar with the inner workings of the CCP system residing in Australia, Yuan Hongbing, mentioned in a previous interview with Epoch Times that the large-scale purge of party, government, and military officials by the CCP regime may appear to be linked to issues such as corruption and personal affairs on the surface. However, many high-profile cases are, in reality, political in nature. From what he knows, including red second-generation officials within the CCP and others, “many are now seeking to oust Xi from power.”