Since March this year, some state-owned enterprises in China have been investigating employees’ close relationships, employment situations, personal travel records, educational arrangements, and require them to fill out their learning experiences since elementary school and provide “proof”. Retirees have revealed that in addition to monitoring officials, state-owned enterprises are also investigating the family relationships and personal information of ordinary grassroots employees. Such scrutiny has extended to employees’ close relatives and personal lives, carrying characteristics of human rights violations.
State-owned enterprises of the Chinese Communist Party have expanded the scrutiny that was originally targeted at internal officials to ordinary employees this year. Several internal investigation forms uploaded on social media in mainland China recently show that since March, the state-owned enterprises have been investigating the “procreation of close relatives” of ordinary employees, a type of scrutiny that did not previously involve regular employees. This week, the companies have also inquired about employees’ international travel records in the past two years, and requested employees to provide screenshots of their identity information and relevant records from the immigration department’s mini-programs to the enterprise.
A form titled “Special Rectification Investigation Ledger for ‘Procreation of Close Relatives’ (General Employees)” provided by a netizen requires registering the names, relationships, work units, and employment situations of employees and their relatives. State-owned enterprises were supposed to address issues caused by the management level with recruitment, transfer, and promotion powers, but have now included “ordinary employees” in the scope of investigations, subjecting employees without hiring authority to scrutiny.
Mr. Wu, a former mid-level executive of a state-owned enterprise who recently retired, told Dajiyuan that the so-called investigation of “procreation of close relatives” was originally meant to investigate which leaders used their power to arrange for relatives to enter the enterprise, but now requires every regular employee to disclose where their family members work and with whom they have relationships. He said, “This has caused a lot of resentment among workers. Which leaders of yours do not have close relatives working in state-owned enterprises? My former boss once arranged for his daughter to be placed in another company by the leader of that company; the leader of that company then arranged for his son to be placed in our enterprise. Now, checking employees’ close relatives is simply ridiculous, it’s just showing strict party governance to Beijing, showing loyalty.”
Another form titled “Investigation Form of Overseas Travel Situation for Enterprise Level 1 Cadres and Employees (2025 to present)” includes columns such as name, unit, department, position, document situation, travel time, destination country or region, and reason for travel. Netizens wrote that employees are required to submit screenshots from the immigration department’s mini-programs, detailing when they have traveled, where they have been, what documents they hold, to the enterprise.
Netizens also provided a personal information form that requires filling out foreign relations, work history and learning experiences starting from primary school, including schools attended, majors, graduation status, and references. The form still retains columns with political review colors, collecting the past experiences of employees and their family members.
A post stated, “All of these many personal privacy information are directly exposed to others, equivalent to one’s own information, family information, schools attended since elementary school, jobs performed, places visited, and whether relatives work together, etc. The authorities’ control has reached an unbearable level.”
Retired official Hu Liyang (pseudonym) from the northwest region revealed that in recent years, suspicions of loyalty towards mid-to-low-level officials by the top Chinese Communist Party leadership have deepened continuously. He said, “They believe these officials are embezzling money and not working well for them. When investigating officials transferring assets overseas, they find that subordinates of officials have assisted in moving money abroad and have opened accounts in Hong Kong with HSBC under the names of their relatives, depositing cash transferred from the mainland and then purchasing properties in the UK in their name. Now they are checking the immigration records and savings of three generations of people.”
Hu Liyang stated that state-owned enterprises and financial institutions of the Chinese Communist Party began expanding the scope of investigations last year from some responsible persons to high-ranking officials’ assistants and their close relatives, and now even ordinary employees are being scrutinized. He said, “This indicates that the authorities have found that ordinary employees may also be involved in high officials’ corruption and asset transfers.”
Another document dated April 13 titled “Explanation on the Working Arrangements during the Learning Period in Employment” involves applying for part-time postgraduate studies, requiring employees to commit to follow unit arrangements and complete their job duties. Employees who use their leisure time to enhance their qualifications are also subject to unit approval and adherence statements.
Former employee Sun Bin (pseudonym) of a state-owned enterprise told reporters that as far as he knows, the political atmosphere in state-owned enterprises is becoming increasingly intense: “When I was still not retired last year, I had meetings almost every other day, where I had to report on my thoughts, self-reflect, and it was best to expose others. What kind of enterprise is this? I couldn’t bear it any longer, so I retired quickly.”
In recent years, with China’s economy continuing to decline, business closures and layoffs increasing, the political learning, information registration, overseas inspections, and personal reporting for grassroots employees have been continuously increasing. Sun Bin stated that under the guise of “procreation of close relatives,” state-owned enterprises publicly register the personal information of ordinary employees and their relatives, something he has never heard of before. This kind of scrutiny extending to employees’ family relationships and private lives has characteristics of violating human rights.