In 2025, former mayor of Wuhan, Zhou Xianwang, who was involved in concealing information related to the outbreak of COVID-19 with the Chinese Communist Party in the early stages of the pandemic, was investigated on July 8th. According to reports from Chinese media, he was arrested along with several family members and their residence was raided. Prior to the incident, he even posted a classical poem.
The website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party reported on July 8th that Zhou Xianwang, former member of the Hubei Provincial Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman, is currently under investigation.
Public information shows that on May 17, 2025, before being taken down, Zhou Xianwang had also conducted research in Zhuxi County, Shiyan, Hubei Province.
Several sources informed the “Economic Observer” that Zhou Xianwang was taken away for investigation by the disciplinary committee personnel on July 4. At the same time, some of his family members were also taken away, and their residence was searched.
Individuals directly affiliated with Zhou Xianwang mentioned that a few days before being taken away, Zhou, who rarely interacted with others proactively on WeChat, sent a poem by the Southern Song poet Dai Fugu to a friend. However, the report did not specify which poem by Dai Fugu was shared.
Dai Fugu (1167-1248), styled Zhi, was from Nantang, Huangyan, Tianzhai (now Xintang Town, Wenling City, Zhejiang Province). He often resided in Shiping Mountain in Nantang and was referred to as Shiping. Dai Fugu was a poet of the Jianghu poetry school during the Southern Song Dynasty.
Insiders indicated that Zhou Xianwang’s investigation this time is related to the case of Jiang Chaoliang.
Jiang Chaoliang served as the Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee from October 2016 to March 2020. During Jiang Chaoliang’s tenure, Zhou Xianwang was promoted from the Secretary of the Huangshi Municipal Party Committee to the Deputy Governor of Hubei Province, and later appointed as the Mayor of Wuhan. In January 2021, Zhou Xianwang was transferred to the position of member of the Party Group and vice chairman of the Hubei Provincial Political Consultative Conference and stepped down in January 2023.
In February 2020, Jiang Chaoliang and the Secretary of Wuhan, Ma Guoqiang, were dismissed from their positions. In August 2021, Jiang Chaoliang was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Agriculture and Rural Committee of the National People’s Congress, and in March 2023, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the Deputy Director of the Agriculture and Rural Committee. He was under investigation on February 21 this year.
Hubei and Wuhan experienced the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19, CCP virus) at the end of 2019. The Chinese Communist Party concealed the truth at all levels of government, leading to the rapid spread of the epidemic. Officials in Hubei and Wuhan became targets of public criticism on social media at that time.
On January 27, 2020, then Mayor of Wuhan, Zhou Xianwang, hinted during an interview with CCTV, the state television broadcaster, that the primary responsibility for concealing the epidemic in the early stages lied with the central government. He stated that as a local government, they could only disclose information after being authorized. According to official media reports, the nationwide “epidemic prevention” was being “personally commanded and deployed” by the CCP leader, Xi Jinping.