Recently, a phenomenon has emerged in the education committees of several provinces and cities in China, where the committees are now led by deputy secretaries of the provincial or municipal party committees, instead of the usual practice of being led by top officials of the education department. At the same time, there have been intensive leadership adjustments in the top ranks of many well-known universities in China. Some scholars believe that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is placing greater emphasis on its indoctrination education, appointing individuals who unquestionably obey it to manage universities in order to strengthen its authoritarian rule.
In Tianjin, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee Chen Fukuan recently took on a new role as the Secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee’s Education Working Committee, making his first public appearance in this capacity last week.
Public information shows that Chen Fukuan, 59 years old, comes from the CCP’s political and legal system. After the 18th National Congress of the CCP, he transitioned to the discipline inspection department and has served in the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP. In recent years, Chen Fukuan has successively served as the secretary of the discipline inspection commissions in Shandong and Tianjin, and he is a member of the 19th and 20th Central Discipline Inspection Commissions. He started serving as the Deputy Secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee at the end of 2023.
In addition to Chen Fukuan in Tianjin, the secretaries of the education working committees in Beijing, Hunan, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Henan, Guizhou, Liaoning, and other regions are also concurrently held by the same level of CCP Party Committee members.
According to reports from official CCP media, in the past, the heads of provincial education working committees were usually held by the top leaders of the provincial education department. Therefore, having the secretary of the provincial party committee concurrently serving as the secretary of the education working committee signifies a significant elevation in the status and level of this position.
The main function of these high-level provincial education working committees is to strengthen the CCP’s leadership in education. Their primary responsibilities include: providing so-called guidance and inspections on the implementation of CCP policies in the education systems of their respective provinces and cities; supervising the party building work in ordinary colleges and universities in the province; overseeing the CCP’s theoretical propaganda, ideological and political education, and educational system news propaganda work in ordinary colleges and universities in the province; being responsible for united front and “mass work” in local ordinary colleges and universities; handling the so-called “stability maintenance” work in the local education system, and coordinating responses to “unstable factors,” emergencies, and major incidents.
Former professor at Capital Normal University, Li Yuanhua, believes that the CCP’s actions are aimed at further strengthening indoctrination education. In an interview with a reporter from Epoch Times on May 15th, Li Yuanhua stated that by appointing deputy secretaries of the provincial party committees to concurrently serve in roles that were relatively lower in rank in the past, the CCP is effectively elevating the position of the secretary of the education working committee to a vice-provincial level, demonstrating the CCP’s strong emphasis on this matter. This heightened attention may stem from the CCP’s view that the effectiveness of its indoctrination education is diminishing in the current era of online information, hence the need to intensify its efforts.
In recent days, there have been intensive adjustments in the leadership ranks of many well-known universities in China.
On May 6th, there were changes in the party secretaries of two prominent Chinese universities, the Central University of Finance and Economics and Northeast Normal University. On that day, the Ministry of Education of the CCP announced relevant appointments and dismissals at the Central University of Finance and Economics, with Wu Guosheng succeeding He Xiuchao as the new party secretary of the university.
Public records show that Wu Guosheng, nearly 57 years old, has held positions such as senior official in the Education Science Division of the Ministry of Finance of the CCP, and Director of the Finance Division of the Ministry of Education. Prior to this transfer, he served as the Executive Vice Secretary of the Party Committee at Lanzhou University.
On the same day, official CCP information indicated that Li Zhongjun returned to his position at Northeast Normal University, serving as the party secretary of the university. Li Zhongjun had previously held positions such as the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice President, and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission at Northeast Normal University, as well as Deputy Secretary and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission at Jilin University, and Secretary of the Party Committee at Shaanxi Normal University.
On April 30th, leadership adjustments occurred at Beijing Normal University and Beijing University of Science and Technology. Yu Jihong was appointed as the president and deputy secretary of the party committee of Beijing Normal University, while Jiang Lan, a “post-70s” individual, was appointed as the president and deputy secretary of the party committee of Beijing University of Science and Technology. Both were explicitly promoted to the vice-ministerial level.
On April 26th, official CCP information revealed that Jia Wenjian was appointed as the president and deputy secretary of the party committee of the Beijing Foreign Studies University. He had been serving at Beijing Foreign Studies University for many years and held the position of Vice President of the university.
Also on April 26th, the Ministry of Education of the CCP announced relevant appointments and dismissals at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, appointing Tang Zhishu, a “post-70s” individual, as the president of the university. Tang Zhishu, nearly 52 years old, had previously served as the Vice President of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, the Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee, Vice President, and Dean of the Graduate School at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.
Furthermore, there have been intensive leadership adjustments in several universities, vocational schools, and educational examination institutions in Shandong and Zhejiang.
Li Yuanhua commented on this, stating that after the end of the Cultural Revolution in China, the position of university presidents used to be higher than that of the party secretaries of the university. He said, “In universities, the position of the party secretary was one that no one wanted, but since Xi Jinping came to power, these situations have changed, and now the position of the party secretary of the university is higher than that of the president.”
“CCP is making these adjustments to find individuals who are more obedient and obedient, especially in the leadership of some prestigious universities, the CCP wants to see who is absolutely obedient to it,” Li Yuanhua said. Some university presidents in China have independent thinking, and though they are in positions of power, they still retain a certain degree of free consciousness, which the CCP cannot tolerate. Therefore, the CCP aims to replace the leadership of universities with individuals who will unquestioningly obey the CCP, turning the leadership into servants first so that they can train teachers and students to become servants as well.
On May 11th, CCP leader Xi Jinping made requirements regarding ideological and political education in schools, emphasizing that this course should be placed in a position of importance in educational work and that the CCP should comprehensively strengthen its leadership over ideological and political courses. He urged schools to strive to cultivate what he termed as “new era individuals” that can make the party feel at ease.
Former Beijing lawyer and Chairman of the Canadian Alliance, Lai Jianping, told Epoch Times reporters that the so-called “ideological and political education” of the CCP is essentially brainwashing, aimed at making students accept the CCP’s authoritarian rule ideologically. He stated that not only does the CCP emphasize the importance of ideological and political work in public opinion, but it also places ideological and political work at the forefront through personnel adjustments in universities. The concurrent appointment of deputy secretaries of provincial party committees as secretaries of the provincial education working committees demonstrates the high level of attention the CCP is giving this issue, further intensifying its control over people’s thinking.
“Due to the one-party dictatorship and personal dictatorship, the CCP is facing unprecedented internal and external challenges, and its authoritarian rule is facing instability and challenges,” Lai Jianping said. “Therefore, if the people have independent thinking and see the essence of the CCP clearly, they will rise up in resistance. However, violence alone cannot suppress them, so the CCP must strengthen its control over thinking.”
(Reporter Ning Xin contributed to this article)