In 2025, a large-scale cleaning movement has been launched in the fire protection field of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with at least 7 provincial fire brigade commanders being investigated. The inspection stage of fire protection has become a hotspot for rent-seeking, exposing corruption issues in the CCP’s fire protection sector.
Recently, Zhang Fuyan, the former political commissar of the Yunnan Forest Fire Brigade, was announced to be under investigation by the authorities. This marks the third high-level official within the provincial brigade to fall from grace in the past six months. Previously, the former brigade commander, Qi Xingbin, and deputy brigade commander, Luo Ba, were investigated in June and September respectively.
According to a report by China News Service on December 2, public data shows that since 2025, at least 7 brigade commanders in the fire protection sector have been investigated, involving provinces such as Chongqing, Hunan, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Sichuan.
In addition to the frequent investigations, some officials have voluntarily surrendered, including Deputy Political Commissar Bao Yanping of the Shanghai Fire Rescue Brigade, Commander Cai Weiguo of Zhejiang, and Commander Qi Xingbin of Yunnan.
Public data shows that before 2018, the CCP public security fire brigade and the armed police forest unit were both under the jurisdiction of the armed police, responsible for firefighting and forest fire prevention and extinguishment tasks, and participating in emergency stabilization tasks when necessary. After the 2018 reform, both forces were reorganized into administrative units and placed under the leadership of the CCP Emergency Management Department.
According to reports from several officials under investigation, they have abused their firefighting law enforcement powers for rent-seeking, seeking benefits for others in fire engineering review and safety inspections.
A typical case is that of Zhang Fusheng, former Deputy Director of the CCP Emergency Management Bureau (with the rank of armed police major general), who received over 9 million yuan from a fire engineering company owner, Yu Yang, through playing mahjong, in exchange for giving favors in fire inspections and other matters.
The consequences of corruption in the fire protection sector are serious. In July 2024, a fire in the Jiuding Building in Zigong, Sichuan, resulted in 16 deaths and 39 injuries. The accident investigation report revealed that long-standing fire safety hazards were overlooked and the rectification efforts were merely formal. In November 2022, a major fire at the Kaixinda Company in Anyang, Henan, led to the death of 42 people. The company had been operating in the park for 12 years without completing fire design reviews and inspections.
According to information from the CCP Discipline Inspection Commission, a total of 90 CCP provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated in the first three quarters of this year, exceeding the total for the whole of last year. In just the third quarter, 47 individuals were investigated, marking a historic high.
In a speech by Xi Jinping at the end of June this year, CCP state media emphasized “self-revolution” and “introspection.”
Commentator Tang Jingyuan, residing in the United States, told Epoch Times that according to the logic of “emphasizing what is lacking,” Xi Jinping’s power is actually weakening. Current affairs commentator Li Lin believes that the tone of the article is more like a defense, as everyone in the officialdom is insecure, and official negligence has led to widespread public dissatisfaction.