On January 11, 2026, the web celebrity official of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Xinjiang, He Jiaolong, fell from a horse and was injured. Despite rescue efforts, he passed away on the night of January 14 at the age of 47. The news of He Jiaolong’s death had already circulated, and there were official attempts to dispel rumors.
According to the Xinjiang Daily, He Jiaolong, the director of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Agricultural Product Brand Construction and Marketing Service Center, passed away at 11:12 p.m. on January 14 due to ineffective rescue efforts.
It was reported that on the afternoon of January 11, He Jiaolong was filming pre-event footage for an agricultural e-commerce sales event in the city of Bole, the capital of the Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in northwest Xinjiang when he accidentally fell from a horse, sustaining severe head injuries. He was immediately taken to Bortala People’s Hospital for treatment. On January 13, He Jiaolong was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, and on January 14, due to the severity of his injuries, he unfortunately passed away.
The news of He Jiaolong’s death had already spread the day before. The news website The Paper briefly quoted information from He Jiaolong’s team, disclosing that He Jiaolong had unfortunately passed away after falling from a horse during work and being unable to recover despite rescue efforts. This news quickly trended on various social media platforms.
However, local authorities later clarified the situation. According to Xinjiang’s New Huanghe newspaper, around 10:30 a.m. on January 14, staff from the relevant departments of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region informed reporters that He Jiaolong was still undergoing treatment after being injured in a work-related incident and that the news of his death on the 13th was false, urging people to rely on official announcements.
On the same day, the “正在新聞” WeChat public account under the Qingdao Radio and Television Station also cited Xinjiang officials stating that the news of He Jiaolong’s death was false and that he was still alive, promising to issue further updates if there were any new developments.
According to official records, He Jiaolong was a member of the CCP, born in December 1979 in Shehong, Sichuan. She had previously held positions such as Deputy Secretary of the Communist Youth League in Zhaosu County, Deputy Secretary and Secretary of the Party Committee of Husongtuharson Township in Zhaosu County, and Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhaosu Town in 2012. In 2016, He Jiaolong became the director of the Zhaosu County Scenic Area Management Committee while continuing as the Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhaosu Town. In 2017, she was appointed Deputy County Mayor of Zhaosu County and continued to serve as the director of the Scenic Area Management Committee until stepping down from that position in 2018 while keeping her role as Deputy County Mayor.
In 2020, He Jiaolong began live-streaming and became an internet celebrity. While serving as Deputy County Mayor of Zhaosu County, she conducted live-streamed sales on social media accounts and promoted tourism by riding horses in snowy areas in November of the same year.
In 2021, she was appointed Deputy Director of the Cultural and Tourism Bureau of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang and has been in her current position since 2023.
During the outbreak of the CCP virus (COVID-19) in September 2022, the city of Yining, the capital of Ili Prefecture, was locked down for over a month, leading to severe secondary disasters due to extreme epidemic prevention measures. Local residents faced food shortages, difficulty in seeking medical treatment, and even incidents of residents committing suicide out of desperation due to hunger. At that time, He Jiaolong, who was the Deputy Director of the Cultural and Tourism Bureau of Ili Prefecture, advised the public to “eat one less meal and avoid generating waste,” causing public outrage at her “stability maintenance” remarks.