Xi Jinping’s tumultuous relations with the CCP princelings
January 11, 2024
Princelings, china congress, Xi jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping is applauded by members of the government as he arrives for the closing session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People on March 11, 2022, in Beijing, China.
The offspring of Chinese Communist Party leaders who fought during the revolution are called the “red princelings.” Controlling China’s key industries and its politics, they are the privileged class with money, power, and connections. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whose father was a vice premier under Mao, is one of them.
Who are China’s ‘Princelings’?
Many of the CCP leaders have passed away, but their children and grandchildren are enjoying the privileges of the family status. In general, there are three types of princelings. The first type is in politics. Xi Jinping is in this category. The second type is in business and controls one or a few large state-owned enterprises. The third type is neither in politics nor business. These individuals are often educated in the West and return to China to hold well-paid jobs. All three groups are wealthy. Of the three, the group in business makes up the majority of the princeling class. So how many are there?
As reported in the July 2016 issue of Hong Kong’s Zheng Ming Magazine, according to data from the Research Offices of the State Council, the Central Committee’s Party School, and the Academy of Social Sciences, 78% of the second-generation princelings and their families and 83% of the third-generation princelings and families are in business. And these red descendants become billionaires fast. The average time for them to make their first 100 million yuan is five years. 80% of the second and third generations of CCP leaders have become billionaires through business.
Many of China’s superrich are descendants of Party leaders; most of them reside in Beijing to be close to the power centers, where their families’ influence matters.
The 2016 report revealed that about 3 million households in mainland China have 100 million yuan or more in wealth. Almost 20% or 572 thousand of the wealthy families are in Beijing. Among them, 61 thousand households have assets between 1 and 2 billion yuan, and 11 thousand households have assets of more than 2 billion, far more than those in other large cities.
After three decades of Deng’s economic reforms, CCP leaders and their families control China’s major industries: oil, energy, mining, defense, finance, education, culture and publishing, medical care, and transportation. These national strategic sectors are controlled by about a dozen top CCP leaders’ families.
The Hidden “Gold Mine”
More than a month ago, a former princeling and pro-democracy activist living in the U.S., Dr. Wang Juntao, revealed that Xi had collected large sums of money from the CCP red families. They were forced to hand over a chunk of their wealth to the state for immunity in anti-corruption investigations. Also, a post circulating on social media since December 12 showed that Xi demanded that red decedents contribute at least one-third of their wealth to the central government to help get through the economic hard times. If they don’t comply, he’ll use other means to make them.
However, there are two families that Xi hasn’t touched. They are the Hu Jintao family and the Jiang Zemin family. He left them alone not because he was lenient with them but because Hu and Jiang were in a different category. They are not princelings but their butlers. Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin didn’t join the revolution during Mao’s time nor did they have parents who fought in the revolution. They were technocrats chosen by Deng Xiaoping and the Party elders to do housekeeping before their children matured politically to take over.
Theoretically speaking, the princelings have no conflict with Xi Jinping since they share the same goal of carrying on the Communist Party’s rule. Even when Xi steered China to the left, princelings still supported him. Radio Free Asia has quoted one of Xi Jinping’s childhood friends, Ma Xiaoli, a princeling, as saying in 2013 that 80% of princelings were leftists. They support Xi because Xi is one of them. However, that’s just in theory. In reality, Xi Jinping’s tumultuous relations with the princelings began even before he became the CCP’s leader.
The Plan to Overthrow by Bo Xilai
In February 2012, when Xi visited the U.S. as the vice president of China and the CCP’s crown prince, one week after Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun defected to the U.S. Consulate, Xi learned from then-U.S. President Barack Obama of a rival princeling’s plan to overthrow him. That rival was Bo Xilai, the son of CCP patriarch Bo Yibo.
At the time, Bo Xilai was Xi’s most formidable enemy. The daring, proud and ambitious Bo was backed by then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin, who wanted Bo to succeed Hu Jintao. However, Bo lost his bid to Xi Jinping due to his unpopular leftist ideology and aggressive behavior. Yet Bo wouldn’t give up. He conspired with the Jiang faction to overthrow Xi Jinping at the upcoming 18th Party Congress. When his police chief Wang Lijun defected to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, Wang revealed Bo’s plan of a coup to the Americans. Xi Jinping learned about it while he was visiting the White House.
After returning to China, with help from Hu Jintao and support from other princelings, Xi Jinping eventually sent Bo Xilai to prison and locked him up for life. However, some red descendants didn’t agree with Xi’s heavy-handed treatment of Bo Xilai. That was a major divisive fight among the princelings.
The Fight between 4 Factions
During Xi’s first term as the Party leader, power was shared by 4 factions: the Xi Jinping faction, the princeling faction, the Jiang faction, and the Hu Jintao faction. Xi partnered with the Hu faction and the princeling faction to battle the Jiang faction. A number of princelings took important positions in the military and the Party, such as Liu Yuan, and Liu Yazhou, to name a few. And Xi relied on another princeling, Wang Qishan, to carry out his signature anti-corruption campaign.
Princelings, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and his predecessors Hu Jintao (L) and Jiang Zemin (C) arrive for the National Day reception marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China at The Great Hall Of The People on September 30, 2014 in Beijing, China.
However, as Xi obtained more power, the princelings lost their favor and were forced to step away from key positions through reorganization and military reforms. Now, Xi Jinping and his vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Zhang Youxia, are the only princelings holding high positions in Beijing’s power centers.
Shortly after Xi Jinping took over the helm of the Party, he held a centennial memorial for his father, Xi Zhongxun on October 15, 2013, at the Great Hall of the People. Xi invited one representative from each of the CCP’s red families to attend. This gesture made people speculate he was inviting other princelings to join the government, ushering in a new dynasty belonging to them. But the red families quickly discovered that their life under Xi’s rule was more difficult.
In 2018, Mao Zedong’s grandson, Mao Xinyu; former premier Li Peng’s daughter, Li Xiaolin; Deng Xiaoping’s daughter, Deng Nan; Zhu Rongji’s daughter, Zhu Yanlai; and Wan Li’s son, Wan Jifei, didn’t make it to the Chinse People’s Political Consultative Conference. Membership in the Conference is an honorary position with political status and privilege that these princelings enjoy. And they lost it under Xi’s rule.
When Xi Jinping was a low-ranking official in Fujian, he flew on military cargo planes to Beijing every other week to network and the son of former CCP leader Hu Yaobang, Hu Deping, was his important contact in Beijing. Hu was the publisher of a liberal magazine called Yanhuang Chunqiu (炎黄春秋). In 2016, Xi closed his friend’s magazine for being too outspoken.
In 2018, Chen Xiaolu, the son of Chen Yi, one of the founding marshals of the CCP, died suddenly from a heart attack after his Anbang Insurance Group was taken over by the authorities. Wu Xiaohui, Deng Xiaoping’s nephew-in-law and former chairman of Anbang, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2019. Ironically, the man who took down Anbang, Xi Jinping’s partner in anti-corruption and a princeling too, Wang Qishan, was later ordered to retire.
In September 2020, a princeling in real estate, Ren Zhiqiang, was sentenced to 18 years. Ren is known for his outspokenness and is critical of China’s real estate policies, the CCP, and Xi Jinping.
General Liu Yazhou, the son-in-law of the former president of China, Li Xiannian, and a PLA strategist has been locked up for investigation. Last month, Deng Xiaoping’s eldest son, Deng Pufang, abruptly stepped down after 30 years in control of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation. He was replaced by Yang Xiaodu, a close confidant of Xi Jinping. Yang Xiaodu is experienced in anti-corruption work, and his taking over Deng’s organization is tantamount to warning the Deng’s family that they’d better behave themselves.
But none of the above people are Xi Jinping’s real opponents. In the next article, I’ll discuss which member of the princeling faction is feared by Xi Jinping the most.
Watch full video here:
The Wisdom to Know – The Courage to Tell
Video
Will Xi strike Taiwan while the world is distracted?
June 19, 2025
Video
“23107”: The mission to kill the former Premier
June 18, 2025
Video
The rise of Zhang Youxia: China’s real leader now
June 17, 2025
Video
China’s new leaders emerge—and the Russians know
June 16, 2025
🔴 Talk
Inside the whistleblower report on Li Keqiang’s mysterious death
June 14, 2025
Video
China’s EV gamble backfires
June 14, 2025
Rational, Realistic, Responsible, Reasonable
Xi Jinping’s tumultuous relations with the CCP princelings
The offspring of Chinese Communist Party leaders who fought during the revolution are called the “red princelings.” Controlling China’s key industries and its politics, they are the privileged class with money, power, and connections. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whose father was a vice premier under Mao, is one of them.
Who are China’s ‘Princelings’?
Many of the CCP leaders have passed away, but their children and grandchildren are enjoying the privileges of the family status. In general, there are three types of princelings. The first type is in politics. Xi Jinping is in this category. The second type is in business and controls one or a few large state-owned enterprises. The third type is neither in politics nor business. These individuals are often educated in the West and return to China to hold well-paid jobs. All three groups are wealthy. Of the three, the group in business makes up the majority of the princeling class. So how many are there?
As reported in the July 2016 issue of Hong Kong’s Zheng Ming Magazine, according to data from the Research Offices of the State Council, the Central Committee’s Party School, and the Academy of Social Sciences, 78% of the second-generation princelings and their families and 83% of the third-generation princelings and families are in business. And these red descendants become billionaires fast. The average time for them to make their first 100 million yuan is five years. 80% of the second and third generations of CCP leaders have become billionaires through business.
Many of China’s superrich are descendants of Party leaders; most of them reside in Beijing to be close to the power centers, where their families’ influence matters.
The 2016 report revealed that about 3 million households in mainland China have 100 million yuan or more in wealth. Almost 20% or 572 thousand of the wealthy families are in Beijing. Among them, 61 thousand households have assets between 1 and 2 billion yuan, and 11 thousand households have assets of more than 2 billion, far more than those in other large cities.
After three decades of Deng’s economic reforms, CCP leaders and their families control China’s major industries: oil, energy, mining, defense, finance, education, culture and publishing, medical care, and transportation. These national strategic sectors are controlled by about a dozen top CCP leaders’ families.
The Hidden “Gold Mine”
More than a month ago, a former princeling and pro-democracy activist living in the U.S., Dr. Wang Juntao, revealed that Xi had collected large sums of money from the CCP red families. They were forced to hand over a chunk of their wealth to the state for immunity in anti-corruption investigations. Also, a post circulating on social media since December 12 showed that Xi demanded that red decedents contribute at least one-third of their wealth to the central government to help get through the economic hard times. If they don’t comply, he’ll use other means to make them.
However, there are two families that Xi hasn’t touched. They are the Hu Jintao family and the Jiang Zemin family. He left them alone not because he was lenient with them but because Hu and Jiang were in a different category. They are not princelings but their butlers. Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin didn’t join the revolution during Mao’s time nor did they have parents who fought in the revolution. They were technocrats chosen by Deng Xiaoping and the Party elders to do housekeeping before their children matured politically to take over.
Theoretically speaking, the princelings have no conflict with Xi Jinping since they share the same goal of carrying on the Communist Party’s rule. Even when Xi steered China to the left, princelings still supported him. Radio Free Asia has quoted one of Xi Jinping’s childhood friends, Ma Xiaoli, a princeling, as saying in 2013 that 80% of princelings were leftists. They support Xi because Xi is one of them. However, that’s just in theory. In reality, Xi Jinping’s tumultuous relations with the princelings began even before he became the CCP’s leader.
The Plan to Overthrow by Bo Xilai
In February 2012, when Xi visited the U.S. as the vice president of China and the CCP’s crown prince, one week after Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun defected to the U.S. Consulate, Xi learned from then-U.S. President Barack Obama of a rival princeling’s plan to overthrow him. That rival was Bo Xilai, the son of CCP patriarch Bo Yibo.
At the time, Bo Xilai was Xi’s most formidable enemy. The daring, proud and ambitious Bo was backed by then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin, who wanted Bo to succeed Hu Jintao. However, Bo lost his bid to Xi Jinping due to his unpopular leftist ideology and aggressive behavior. Yet Bo wouldn’t give up. He conspired with the Jiang faction to overthrow Xi Jinping at the upcoming 18th Party Congress. When his police chief Wang Lijun defected to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, Wang revealed Bo’s plan of a coup to the Americans. Xi Jinping learned about it while he was visiting the White House.
After returning to China, with help from Hu Jintao and support from other princelings, Xi Jinping eventually sent Bo Xilai to prison and locked him up for life. However, some red descendants didn’t agree with Xi’s heavy-handed treatment of Bo Xilai. That was a major divisive fight among the princelings.
The Fight between 4 Factions
During Xi’s first term as the Party leader, power was shared by 4 factions: the Xi Jinping faction, the princeling faction, the Jiang faction, and the Hu Jintao faction. Xi partnered with the Hu faction and the princeling faction to battle the Jiang faction. A number of princelings took important positions in the military and the Party, such as Liu Yuan, and Liu Yazhou, to name a few. And Xi relied on another princeling, Wang Qishan, to carry out his signature anti-corruption campaign.
However, as Xi obtained more power, the princelings lost their favor and were forced to step away from key positions through reorganization and military reforms. Now, Xi Jinping and his vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Zhang Youxia, are the only princelings holding high positions in Beijing’s power centers.
Shortly after Xi Jinping took over the helm of the Party, he held a centennial memorial for his father, Xi Zhongxun on October 15, 2013, at the Great Hall of the People. Xi invited one representative from each of the CCP’s red families to attend. This gesture made people speculate he was inviting other princelings to join the government, ushering in a new dynasty belonging to them. But the red families quickly discovered that their life under Xi’s rule was more difficult.
In 2018, Mao Zedong’s grandson, Mao Xinyu; former premier Li Peng’s daughter, Li Xiaolin; Deng Xiaoping’s daughter, Deng Nan; Zhu Rongji’s daughter, Zhu Yanlai; and Wan Li’s son, Wan Jifei, didn’t make it to the Chinse People’s Political Consultative Conference. Membership in the Conference is an honorary position with political status and privilege that these princelings enjoy. And they lost it under Xi’s rule.
When Xi Jinping was a low-ranking official in Fujian, he flew on military cargo planes to Beijing every other week to network and the son of former CCP leader Hu Yaobang, Hu Deping, was his important contact in Beijing. Hu was the publisher of a liberal magazine called Yanhuang Chunqiu (炎黄春秋). In 2016, Xi closed his friend’s magazine for being too outspoken.
In 2018, Chen Xiaolu, the son of Chen Yi, one of the founding marshals of the CCP, died suddenly from a heart attack after his Anbang Insurance Group was taken over by the authorities. Wu Xiaohui, Deng Xiaoping’s nephew-in-law and former chairman of Anbang, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2019. Ironically, the man who took down Anbang, Xi Jinping’s partner in anti-corruption and a princeling too, Wang Qishan, was later ordered to retire.
In September 2020, a princeling in real estate, Ren Zhiqiang, was sentenced to 18 years. Ren is known for his outspokenness and is critical of China’s real estate policies, the CCP, and Xi Jinping.
General Liu Yazhou, the son-in-law of the former president of China, Li Xiannian, and a PLA strategist has been locked up for investigation. Last month, Deng Xiaoping’s eldest son, Deng Pufang, abruptly stepped down after 30 years in control of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation. He was replaced by Yang Xiaodu, a close confidant of Xi Jinping. Yang Xiaodu is experienced in anti-corruption work, and his taking over Deng’s organization is tantamount to warning the Deng’s family that they’d better behave themselves.
But none of the above people are Xi Jinping’s real opponents. In the next article, I’ll discuss which member of the princeling faction is feared by Xi Jinping the most.
Watch Lei’s full video here:
– The Courage to Tell
Recent Uploads
⌞
Connect with Lei
⌝
No comments:
Post a Comment